Domaine Machard de Gramont, Nuits St Georges, by Paul Thomas

Organic Credentials

In 2004 Axelle returned to Burgundy from Paris to join her father Bertrand, and since then they have managed the Domaine together. It was a condition of her return, that the estate would convert to organic farming. This means that no synthetic chemical treatments are used in the vineyard or in the wine making.  The wines have a freshness and vitality, which is the first sensation encountered when tasting.  There is also balance, delicacy and finesse, and they are not at all typical of the wines of Nuits St Georges, which are too often lacking in one or more of these qualities. 

The Pink WInery in Curtil Vergy, Hautes-Cotes

The Pink WInery in Curtil Vergy, Hautes-Cotes

View from the Winery

View from the Winery

The Estate

The cuverie where they make the wine, sits on the hill of Vergy in the Hautes Cotes, just below the remains of the Abbey St Vivant, the birthplace of the wines of Romanee-Conti.

The estate comprises 7 different plots spread over 6 hectares in Nuits St Georges and Vosne Romanee.  As is typical in Burgundy, some of the vineyards are very small.  So in Vosne for example, their vines deliver all of 600 bottles a year. However quality and demand have created a cult status for this small estate.

Come harvest time, Bertrand is in the vines with grand daughter Fanny, and the rest of the picking team, while Axelle manages the cuverie. Once the bunches have been cut, the aim is to get them into the vat as quickly as possible. Some clusters will include rotten grapes, or ones that have not fully ripened, and these need to be removed either at the time of picking - which slows everything down, or on a sorting table when the grapes get to the cuverie. In any event, it is essential they do not find their way into the vat - a practice not universally followed in Burgundy! The starting point for good wine, is not surprisingly, good healthy grapes!  

The Vineyard Les Terrasses des Vallerots, Nuits St Georges

The Vineyard Les Terrasses des Vallerots, Nuits St Georges

The vineyard Les Terraces des Vallerots, is on the side of a small valley ‘vallerot’ to the south of Nuits St Georges.  The date that vines were first planted here has been lost in the mists of time,  however it is known that the vines were devastated by the phylloxera bug in the 19c, and the land ceased to be under vine in about 1850.  In 1985 Bertrand started buying and replanting small parcels of the land, and gradually built the vineyard up to 2 hectares. The soil cover is minimal - not much more than 12cm, and below that it is the mother rock - limestone.  So the vigneron suffers to work the land, and the vines suffer to force their roots through fissures in the rock to find moisture and sustenance.  These conditions are surprisingly good news for the vines, - those that survive generally produce wonderful wine.  It does not seem to have done Bertrand too much harm either, in remarkably good form for a quadragenarian.

Vintage 2017

In 2017 the vines seem to have compensated for their meagre performance in 2016, and the year is a very good one for the red wines of the Cote de Nuits - Marsannay, Gevrey, Morey St Denis, Chambolle Musigny, Vougeot, Vôsne Romanée and Nuits St Georges.  The fruit is plentiful, healthy, and ripe - perfect for making great wine.  

Fanny, daughter of Axelle, getting in the 2017 harvest of Terrasses des Vallerots

Fanny, daughter of Axelle, getting in the 2017 harvest of Terrasses des Vallerots

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Domaine Pavelot, Pernand Vergelesses, by Gary Roshke

From the main road that runs down past the villages of La Côte, as it is referred to locally, from south of Dijon down through Beaune and beyond, Pernand-Vergelesses is tucked away on the west side, the back side, of the dominating Grand Cru hillside of Corton, and easily missed if you don’t get off the main road at Aloxe Corton. Located at the confluence of two valleys that run up into the Hautes Côtes, cooler air flows down through these channels toward the plains, and provides a moderating influence on the surrounding vineyards. South of the village, closer to Beaune, the terrain opens up and the vineyards have a fantastic, undisturbed, southeast facing exposition, and this is where you will find the most prized vineyards of this village such as the highly regarded, Premier Cru Île des Vergelesses.

Pernand Vergelesses and the vineyard Sous Fretille in the foreground

Pernand Vergelesses and the vineyard Sous Fretille in the foreground

The Pavelot family name is woven into the history of Pernand-Vergelesses and the land registries dating back to the 17th century and beyond. At present, brother/sister team of Luc and Lise Pavelot manage the winery, which has evolved considerably since Luc assumed his lead at the domaine in the early 1990s. Lise came on a few years later. During this time, they have doubled the surface are under vine, and today are edging close to 10 hectares, including all four appellation classes, in both red and white. A rarity to find such breadth in Burgundy under any single roof!

This topography is important in helping to better understand the wines of the village. The whites maintain a racy, dynamic edge, with a leaner profile than one typically encounters further south in Meursault, for example. The reds likewise, often maintain a cool, red-fruit profile, with suggestions of sous-bois or forest floor, and demand a few years in bottle in order to really flourish and show off the best that they have to offer. Recent warmer vintages however, like 2017 and 2018, if they are indicative of what climate change might bring to this region, might be the beginning of a succession of great vintages for this often under the radar village with fruit reaching greater levels of maturity, and the resulting wines tending toward greater fullness and plusher, more satisfying palate profiles.

Luc Pavelot and his vendange panniers

Luc Pavelot and his vendange panniers

Evolution in the winemaking and raising of the wines has been equally as noteworthy; the introduction of sorting tables for one, rather widespread now in Burgundy, underscores a much more careful selection of fruit that begins in the vineyards at harvest and then continues on the vibrating sorting table before anything goes into vat or tank; introduction of larger format barrels, for the whites but equally noteworthy for the reds, helping to accentuate the focus on fruit not wood, and offering more energy, precision and purity to the wines, most notably in their youth. And then, the most significant transformation being the philosophical redirection toward organic production and obtaining their certification in 2009. There is nothing unique here other than the desire to exercise a greater degree of respect for the raw materials, in this case the land, friends and family who work on that land, which led Luc back in the early 1990s to stop all herbicide treatments and to further his commitment to a sain or healthful way of working and eventually, to obtain organic certification.

One thing which has not changed however, through the generations, are the wicker panniers still used during harvest, and pictured on their label. While most of the wineries in the region have gone on to employ small plastic bins for harvesting their fruit, Domaine Pavelot has remained true to this regional tradition, much to the chagrin of those who are charged to haul these double barrelled baskets, over shoulder, often weighing up to 45 kg, down the hillsides to the reception vehicles. In spite of this one strong connection to those who came before, the Pavelot wines have evolved and today offer quality and value in a region where rising prices make appreciating fine Burgundy wines a more and more expensive proposition.

Traffic in downtown Pernand Vergelesses

Traffic in downtown Pernand Vergelesses

Lise Pavelot at the Domaine

Lise Pavelot at the Domaine

Pavelot Ile des Vergelesses

Pavelot Ile des Vergelesses