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Domaine Paul Pillot

Cutting Edge Chassagne Montrachet ‘the next Burgundian superstar’

Thierry Pillot, well supported by his sister Chrystelle, continues to produce benchmark, pure and intense white Burgundies at his family Domaine. The quality reflects the impressive work in the vines (13 people working 12 hectares of vineyards), as well as incremental evolution in the cellar. Despite the quality and the ever-increasing demand, Thierry and his family remain as humble and discreet as ever: there is no Instagram here! 

With each vintage, the wines here get purer and more refined. Thierry is great friends with Vincent Dancer, Marc Bachelet, Arnaud Mortet and many other young guns of Burgundy. He is part of a revolution that has been sweeping through the Côte d’Or: a zeitgeist being driven by a new generation. The wines of his father were always good, in no small part due to the quality of the holdings. However, it is strikingly clear to us, and regular visitors like Allen Meadows, that this invigorated address has well and truly kicked things up a gear and now bears comparison with the very best that the Côte de Beaune has to offer. 

This is a young grower obsessed with freshness and tension, and alongside the superb density, courtesy of low yields and impeccable farming practices, Pillot’s wines deliver these qualities in spades.

The Pillot’s farm first class holdings in some of Chassagne’s greatest vineyards; La Romanée, Les Grandes Ruchottes, Les Caillerets and La Grande Montagne. The Domaine also makes a stunning Clos St-Jean from the heart of the original Clos traditionally called Chassagne du Clos Saint-Jean. The Pillot family owns just over one hectare here—split equally between Pinot Noir and Chardonnay—and are, in fact, the largest owners in the Clos.

In the cellar, the winemaking is geared towards preserving freshness: this is a Domaine obsessed with tension, and Pillot’s whites deliver these qualities in spades. Thierry prefers to crush his grapes before pressing (for lees) and there is no settling, temperature control or battonage. The grapes simply ferment on high solids and wild yeasts at their own pace. Large-format casks of 350 and 500-litres are the fermenting and aging vessels of choice. The whites are fermented wild and matured for 12-18 months on lees in these barrels, before six months in tank. The lees are never stirred, and the wines are bottled unfiltered.

Thierry Pillot’s red wines have really come of age in recent years, to the point where they now hold their own compared with the Domaine’s whites. Pillot’s friendship and gentle rivalry with brother-in-law Arnaud Mortet may have played a part in this improvement. The reds are fermented with between 20-60% whole bunches, and like the whites, very little (if any) new oak is used.

Currently Available

Domaine Paul Pillot Santenay Vieilles Vignes 2022

Domaine Paul Pillot Santenay Vieilles Vignes 2022

Our first allocation of Pillot’s Santenay. It comes from two small parcels on the Chassagne side of the village that lie close to the domaine’s Bourgogne vines: Les Champs Claudes and Les Parons-Dessus. The 50-year-old vines have given an outstanding red in 2022, loaded with dark cherry and anise and some lovely spice from the 20% bunches. The wine was aged only in large format, neutral oak–underlining the classy perfume and structure on offer.

“Bright lifted purple with a racy fresh red fruit nose, the 2022 Santenay kicks on with renewed and refreshed strawberries, then with a crunchy finish. Good stuff, refreshing at the finish.”
88-90 points, Jasper Morris MW, Inside Burgundy
Domaine Paul Pillot Santenay Vieilles Vignes 2022
Domaine Paul Pillot Bourgogne Rouge Pinot Noir 2022

Domaine Paul Pillot Bourgogne Rouge Pinot Noir 2022

This top-drawer Bourgogne is drawn from two estate-owned sites in the southern reaches of Chassagne, near Chagny and Remigny. The soils are the classic clay and limestone of the Côte, and the vines are 35 years old on average. The grapes were handpicked and mostly destemmed before natural fermentation. The wine matured for 12 months in a mix of steel vats and large used barrels. Pillot employs roughly 50% bunches for this wine for structure and perfume—a surprising quantity for this level (until you taste the wine). It’s a deep, fleshy Bourgogne that is simply brilliant for the level. Do not hesitate.

Domaine Paul Pillot Bourgogne Rouge Pinot Noir 2022
Domaine Paul Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles Vignes Rouge 2022

Domaine Paul Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles Vignes Rouge 2022

This gorgeous old-vine Chassagne rouge hails from a single 0.94-hectare parcel of 50-plus-year-old Pinot Noir vines grown on the red clays of Les Grandes Terres on the Santenay side of Chassagne. The clay-rich soil has long produced some of the finest and silkiest reds of the village. The 2022 fermented with 50% bunches, bringing perfume and extra-fine tannins. It’s an incredibly pretty, floral, red-and-blue-fruited expression of Chassagne. It’s already drinking remarkably well!

“Mid purple, the nose offers a leaner raspberry style, and then a little more flesh behind, a darker fruit before the white pepper kicks in, with a little fresh but not vegetal bitterness to finish.”
87-90 points, Jasper Morris MW, Inside Burgundy
Domaine Paul Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles Vignes Rouge 2022
Domaine Paul Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos Saint-Jean Rouge 2022

Domaine Paul Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos Saint-Jean Rouge 2022

Clos Saint-Jean is a benchmark terroir for the reds of Chassagne (in fact, it produces outstanding quality in both colours). For those who have visited, Clos Saint-Jean is the walled vineyard right next door to the estate buildings. The Pillot parcel sits in the heart of the original clos. This part of the vineyard is only 2.2 hectares and was traditionally called Chassagne du Clos Saint-Jean. At just over one hectare, the Pillot holdings are the largest in this climat (or historically named plot of vines) and are split equally between Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. A stone’s throw from the Pillot cellar, these vines are cultivated with a lot of love (i.e., manual labour), including tressage (manually arching the shoots instead of hedging). This wine fermented with 100% bunches and was worked only by feet for about 10 days. The result is a super classy, incredibly perfumed and seductive red Burgundy of the kind that I could not have imagined from Chassagne only a few years ago!

“A lovely fresh purple, with a stunning bouquet all about the fruit first and only the 100 whole bunch vinification later. Griotte cherries and crushed strawberries, proper intensity yet with a sense of weightlessness, and a lovely little fresh pinch of acidity to finish.”
90-93 points, Jasper Morris MW, Inside Burgundy
Domaine Paul Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos Saint-Jean Rouge 2022
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“Domaine Paul Pillot is one of those producers making whites with a real gleam, a luminous clarity. I taste hundreds of wines in Burgundy week, and have to scramble through my notes to check in with my views on many of them, but with Domaine Paul Pillot I remember where the table was in the room, and where I was standing as the wine hit my tastebuds.” Victoria Moore, The Telegraph

“Characterful, elegantly textural and mouthwateringly incisive, these are superb white Burgundies, and to my mind, Pillot is one of a handful of exciting producers who win Chassagne-Montrachet the title of Burgundy's most interesting white wine producing village today.” William Kelley, The Wine Advocate

“Thierry Pillot is one of the best young white winemakers in Burgundy right now… Buy these wines before Monsieur Pillot becomes the next Burgundian superstar.” Tim Atkin MW

Country

France

Primary Region

Côte de Beaune

People

Winemaker: Thierry Pillot

Availability

National

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