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.