2020 Domaine Borgeot Vieilles Vignes Chassagne-Montrachet

The brothers Pascal and Laurent Borgeot, the fourth generation, manage the family domain, which was founded in 1903. The domain is located in the village of Remigny in the Saône-et-Loire department, a few kilometers from Chassagne-Montrachet and a little closer to Santenay, where the brothers own a number of important plots. The village of Remigny is a rarity in Burgundy. It has no name of its own.

It is not in the Cote d'Or. It is located in the department of Saône et Loire. Yet you will find parts of both the Chassagne-Montrachet and the Santenay appellations here. We are only four winegrowers in the village, says Pascal Borgeot at Domaine Borgeot. In our case, it was our great-grandfather who created the domain. At the time it was only five or six hectares of vines, but he also grew other crops. Remigny is a village of 420 inhabitants, four kilometers south of Chassagne-Montrachet and three kilometers east of Santenay.

The Canal du Center cuts through the village and just south of the village is the top of the Côte Chalonnaise, with Bouzeron, Rully, Mercurey, Givry and Montagny. It used to be one third white and two thirds red on the domain, says Pascal Borgeot. Today is fifty-fifty. We now have more vines in Chassagne-Montrachet and Santenay. We have much less Bourgogne Aligoté and the Bourgogne Passetoutgrain has completely disappeared. There are no more gamay vines on the domain. We only have chardonnay, pinot noir and aligoté. The aligoté vines are located in both the Bourgogne Aligoté appellation and the Bouzeron appellation.

Together they cultivate 48 hectares of vines, half in red, half in white. The majority of these vines are 30 years old or more, with plots of Santenay 'Les Gravieres' and Santenay 'Vieilles Vignes' over 50 years old. For more than twenty years, their vines have been fed only organic fertilizers. They work the soil in winter to control weeds and increase microbacteriological activity. Where they have replanted, they have chosen low yielding vines. All this policy is aimed at bringing the harvest to full maturity as often as possible. The fact that the Borgeot brothers use only organic fertilizers, pay close attention to soil conditions and strive to limit the yield of the vines, of course shows that the health of the grape harvest is of primary importance. Without it, no amount of winemaking skill, technology or special equipment can produce great wine. Having said this, the brothers are perfectionists and every step of the winemaking process is carefully studied. The excellent quality of their harvest is brought to its fullest using traditional methods and modern insights.

The Domain Borgeot, founded by Pascal and Laurent Borgeot in 1985 with some important plots of Santenay vines inherited from their father, has become one of the most respected wineries in the Cote de Beaune. Through smart vineyard acquisition and investment, they now have an impressive list of appellations and with a modern micro-negotiation on the side, they can offer their wines for export. However, their reputation locally is such that more well-known producers often send their children to apprentices on the domain.