Côte Chalonnaise

Noël and Jean-Claude Ramonet are the third generation to manage the grand winery of Ramonet, with the mission of maintaining its wonderfully built reputation. Grandfather Pierre is said to have arrived in Burgundy in the late 1920s with nothing more than his knapsack. After years of buying grapes and making wine from them, he was gradually able to buy vineyards in his chosen village of Chassagne. The ultimate highlight in 1978 was the purchase of a plot of land from Le Montrachet, and paid in cash too!

Pierre Ramonet died in 1994 at the age of 88. But its echo lives in the wines, in the capable hands of his grandsons Noël and Jean-Claude who have continued its reputation since 1984 (under the strict command of the grandfather). The original Ramonets came from Bresse on the other side of the Saône from Chalon. In the 19th century, a branch settled in Beaune, where they were millers. The mill went bankrupt and one of them, Claude, moved to Chassagne, where he became a Tacheron, a vineyard worker who is paid by the amount of land he farms. Claude had three children; a daughter who married Georges Bachelet (hence the current domain Bachelet-Ramonet) and two sons, Pierre, born in 1906 and Claude (1914). Pierre married Lucie Prudhon (for a time the wine was sold as Domaine Ramonet-Prudhon). They had only one son, André (1934), father of Noël and Jean-Claude.

Today they own 17 hectares. In the Chassagne the very beautiful premiers crus Ruchottes, Morgeots, Caillerets, Clos-de-la-Boudriotte, Clos-Saint-Jean, Chaumées and Vergers, but also Bâtard and Bienvenues. Recently, Ramonet has been able to expand in Saint-Aubin (Les Charmois) and Puligny-Montrachet (Champ-Canet and a very beautiful villages). The average age of the vines is 60 years and the yields per hectare are very low. Depending on the quality, the wines are aged between 12 and 15 months in a mix of new and used oak barrels (generally 30% new oak). Long maturation on the yeast tracks, light filtering and only occasional batonnage. The Ramonet brothers have remained true winegrowers, just like their grandfather, but the distribution of their wines is being fought over the world. In theory, Noël is responsible for the wine cellars and Jean Claude for the vineyards.