“Time is necessary,” Paul-Etienne Defaix tells me. He should know – he is the 16th generation of his family to make wine in Chablis – and, at Domaine Daniel-Etienne Defaix, time is everything.  Wine has been made at the Domaine du Vieux Château (the property’s historic name, which still features on the labels today) for eight centuries, and under the Defaix family since 1610. Much has changed in Chablis over the past 400 years, however – and today the estate is a last bastion of the Chablis of yore.   Demand for Chablis was booming by the 1970s, and producers reduced the élevage (the time wine spends in barrel or tank), bottling, releasing and selling the wines earlier. These modern wines, often bottled within six to 12 months, were lean and crisp, but for Paul’s father Daniel-Etienne, they were disappointing – lacking the complexity and ageability of wines that spent longer on their lees (the dead yeast cells). Daniel-Etienne decided to do things differently – to return to making wine the way they had in generations past – and the family hasn’t looked back.  Generally, their approach is to let the wine be – waiting, watching and waiting some more. Fermentation is all with indigenous yeast and notably slow, taking up to six months, with malolactic fermentation left to rumble along on its own timescale, only finishing after up to two years. Their Premier Cru wines then spend up to nine years on their fine lees, while for the Grands Crus it can be up to 15 years, kept at a cool 10-12°C.  During the wines’ extended élevage, autolysis takes place – the enzymatic breakdown of the dead yeast cells, or lees. It’s the same process that takes place in Champagne and other traditional-method sparkling wines aged on their lees, and is the key to the Defaix – and once traditional – style of Chablis, giving the wine a rounder mouth-feel, and lending bready, toasty complexity. It is also, for Paul, “key to revealing terroir”. Although the tiny volumes of Defaix’s Grands Crus and Pinot Noir go into oak, most of the wines are aged exclusively in stainless steel, meaning it is only the site and time that you taste in the bottle. Once deemed ready, the wines are bottled and released into the world.  Ageing its wines in stainless steel tank for not months but years, Defaix creates textural, complex wines that are only released as they reach their drinking window. It is a rebellion, Paul tells me, against “a society of rapid consumption”.  Paul is now in charge of the property’s vineyards and winemaking, although his father is still involved in the business. Paul studied in Beaune, getting experience at a handful of estates – largely focused on Pinot Noir – before returning to the family domaine, working his way from the vines to the cellar. As Daniel-Etienne told him, “You need to learn your soil, your vines, then you can make the wine – and then you try to sell it.”  And, although it’s often the style of winemaking that steals headlines at Defaix, the domaine has some remarkable vineyards. The family farms 28 hectares in total. It has two Grand Cru parcels (0.15 hectares in Blanchot and 0.3 hectares in Grenouilles), but it’s the property’s Premiers Crus that have built its reputation – with four hectares each in Côte de Léchet and Vaillons. From these, they produce three wines: their Côte de Léchet, Les Lys and Vaillon. Importantly, the latter is Vaillon, not plural Les Vaillons – their parcel lying in the historic heart of this Premier Cru, prior to its expansion in 1976. Les Lys is a cooler climat within the larger Vaillons, and is often our favourite of the range, while the Côte de Léchet is drastically steep – with a 45% gradient.  The remaining hectares are largely dedicated to the estate’s village Chablis – their Vieilles Vignes. These vines are all over 45 years old, but some are very old – own-rooted, having survived phylloxera and now 145 years in age. When I ask Paul how this half-hectare has managed to survive ungrafted, he pauses, before saying: “I think God prays for these vines.”. They crop a mere 15hl/ha, but produce beautiful fruit (“For my bank, it’s bad; for my wine, it’s perfect!” Paul jokes) – and are now used for massal selection across the estate.  The final piece of the property is a tiny section of Vaillons planted to Pinot Noir, which is bottled as Bourgogne Rouge (as the land is only classified for Chardonnay production). Comprising less than a hectare, these vines too are ancient, planted in 1900, and still on their own roots.  Their spacious cellars are stocked with back-vintages, carefully maturing – a bank of wine that eases the vagaries of each specific growing season, protecting them from dramatic drops in yield – something that is a constant threat in Chablis. Take 2024, a year that was challenging across much of northern Europe with its wet conditions and high disease pressure, but in Chablis also brought hail that devastated huge swathes of vineyard – including Vaillons.  Global warming might have made it easier to ripen grapes in this marginal region, but it’s also made for more extreme conditions – highs and lows that keep producers on their toes. It’s also, arguably, made Chablis a little less Chablis. With riper fruit, the wines are less steely, taut and lean. Harvest dates are inevitably earlier, Paul notes, to preserve acidity and retain Chablisien backbone, but he also emphasises that the fruit requires not just sugar ripeness, but phenolic ripeness – to give dry extract and allow the wines to age. For him, working with old vines and low yields is key – both to phenolic ripeness and to preserving Chablis’s style.  The 2014 vintage – the first that Paul made – has finally just emerged from the cellar, over a decade after it was produced. It’s been a long wait, but delayed gratification is part of life at Domaine Daniel-Etienne Defaix.   Explore all current listings of Domaine Daniel-Etienne Defaix – including the 2014 Vaillon – or read more about Burgundy. 

In many ways, time stands still at Chablis’s Domaine Daniel-Etienne Defaix. As the latest vintage is released, we caught up with Paul-Etienne Defaix – the 16th generation to take the helm at one of the region’s oldest addresses 

Exploring this traditional Chablis estate and its top Premier and Grand Cru wines with 16th generation winemaker Paul-Etienne Defaix

Worth the wait, Domaine Daniel-Etienne Defaix’s Chablis wine

Worth the wait: the wines of Domaine Daniel-Etienne Defaix   

The Thienponts reign over Bordeaux’s Right Bank. At Vieux Château Certan, Alexandre Thienpont – almost always dressed in his Barbour – rules, producing Pomerol of immaculate pedigree, as his family has for over a century now. Nearby, cousin Jacques Thienpont holds court at Le Pin, Pomerol’s original cult address. Nicolas Thienpont is another cousin whose domain stretches out from Saint-Emilion – from Pavie Macquin and Larcis Ducasse across to several estates in the Côte des Francs. And the dynasty continues to grow, as each thread of this complex family finds a new corner of the region to master.  The Flemish family has a long history in the world of wine, having traded French wine (especially Bordeaux) since 1842. Georges Thienpont – grandfather of Jacques, Alexandre and Nicolas) was the first to move into production, buying Ch. Troplong Mondot in 1921, then Vieux Château Certan in 1924. It wasn’t long before the Great Depression hit, however, and Georges Thienpont was forced to sell Troplong Mondot in 1934. Reportedly the only reason he kept Vieux Château Certan was that no one wanted to buy it – with vines holding little allure at the time. It was the château itself at Troplong Mondot, positioned at the highest point in the region and with a view across the village of Saint-Emilion, that allowed him to sell the Saint-Emilion estate. Georges continued to make wine through the Second World War and the devastating frost of 1956. Despite a challenging start, “VCC” (as it is affectionately known by wine-lovers) has become one of Bordeaux’s leading names.  It was Jacques Thienpont, however, who thrust the family firmly into the limelight. It was in 1979 that Jacques, then still a Belgian wine merchant, purchased a 1.6-hectare vineyard in Pomerol. The site had produced generic Pomerol, but Jacques started making tiny volumes of opulently styled wine, naming it after the lone pine tree (“le pin”) that stood on the property. The 1982 vintage was pivotal, receiving significant critical acclaim – especially from Robert Parker – and soon Le Pin became one of the world’s most desirable wines.  Just over 30 years after that first vineyard purchase, it seemed like fate when Jacques went to see a plot of land in Saint-Emilion right next to Troplong Mondot. Previously known as Ch. Haut-Plantey, the potential of the site was clear to Jacques and the symmetry of the Thienponts returning to where their family’s winemaking legacy began seemed fitting. He bought the property in 2010 and put Cyrille Thienpont (his cousin once removed) in charge of its daily running. In keeping with the arboreal theme, he named the Saint-Emilion venture L’If (the yew tree).  The first project the team undertook was a detailed soil map to get to grips with the site. The winery is in Saint-Laurent-des-Combes, just to the east of Troplong Mondot, with five hectares of vineyard around it and another two hectares of west-facing vines next to Saint-Hippolyte. The lower parcels are more eroded and sandier, but much of the vineyard sits on pure limestone and clay. They set about restructuring the vineyard – getting rid of the 5% Cabernet Sauvignon and increasing the portion of Cabernet Franc, with around 25% across the property today (any new plantings were with a massal selection from Pavie Macquin).  In 2013, Jacques bought another hectare or so of vines in Saint-Etienne-de-Lisse, right next to Ch. Puy-Blanquet. Despite the quality of the soils, Jacques was hesitant about buying such a “distant” plot, a whopping three kilometres as the crow flies – or a circa 10-minute drive. They pulled the vines out and replanted this additional parcel, harvesting its first fruit in 2018. Despite its youth, the fruit from the plot has made it into the final blend for every vintage of L’If since 2020 (“Worth the trip,” jokes Cyrille). Even with the significant replanting and this new plot, the average age of vines across the estate is around 40 – with the oldest over 60 years in age.  Work on a new winery finished just in time for the 2023 harvest, allowing greater precision and flexibility – with more space to work (and 16 concrete tanks for their eight hectares of vines). You might expect a flashy building, perhaps designed by a famous architect – but that’s not the Thienpont way. Understatement is everything for this family – and the winery is an almost exact replica of what stood there before, simply with more space inside, designed for simple functionality. In one corner stands an otherwise anonymous stainless-steel tank – the first one that Jacques bought for Le Pin back in 1979.  It was perhaps inevitable that L’If would sit in Le Pin’s shadow. But now, 15 years after Jacques Thienpont bought the estate, with a new winery and the significant work in the vineyards completed, L’If is building its own reputation.  Although the same team is largely involved in both estates, L’If is a totally different site and wine. The cool soils have better water-holding capacity, and budburst is around 10 days later than at Le Pin with its warm free-draining gravels – a gap that often widens as the growing season progresses, meaning harvest is significantly later here. Diana Berrouet Garcia – who acts as Managing Director for Domaines Jacques Thienpont, including both Le Pin and L’If – notes how at L’If the terroir seems to speak louder than the vintage and can better adapt to more challenging conditions, while the vines can struggle – especially in hot, dry years – at Le Pin. Where Le Pin is round, supple and exotic, L’If is linear, taut and mineral; one sensual and spherical, the other just on the right side of severe, with a crystalline quality. Even in the last few years, it’s amazing how the wine is evolving – nipping at Le Pin’s toes in terms of quality. Re-tasting the 2019, it’s amazingly approachable with a perfumed nose and juicy, pure fruit that complements the wine’s natural tension.   It's still comparatively early days for L’If –  and the team has invested significantly, focusing on shaping the vineyard and ensuring they have the tools in the winery to translate the work in the vines. For now, over half the vineyard is being used for the second wine, Les Collines d’If – something that will change in time, as they continue to replant parcels. As it happens, yews grow incredibly slowly – but are also some of the longest-living trees (Perthshire in Scotland is home to the Fortingall yew, thought to be 2,000-3,000 years old and one of the oldest trees in Europe). The Theinpont family is just settling in at L’If, but as they lay down roots, the potential is clear.   The Thienpont family: who does what?  Jacques Thienpont: Owns Le Pin, L’If and L’Hêtre (the latter with his sister Anne de Raeymaeker), but is also a co-owner of Vieux Château Certan. He oversees the family’s original Belgian wine merchant business, the Belgian Royal Warrant-holding Thienpont Wine, which is managed by his wife and award-winning wine writer Fiona Morrison MW.  Alexandre Thienpont: Co-owns and manages Vieux Château Certan with his son, Guillaume, as well as co-owning Le Pin with Jacques. Alexandre and Guillaume also farm the vines at Le Pin, L’If and L’Hêtre, as well as Vieux Château Certan.  Guillaume Thienpont: Manages Vieux Château Certan with his father, Alexandre, as well as making L’Etoile and Les Fillottes with his second cousin, François Thienpont. He also now manages Ch. Guillot-Clauzel, which is not owned by the family.  François Thienpont: Manages the family’s négociant business, Wings, as well as making L’Etoile and Les Fillottes with Guillaume Thienpont and is a co-owner of both Vieux Château Certan and Ch. Puygueraud.  Nicolas Thienpont: Owns and/or manages a group of estates with his son Cyrille: Pavie Macquin, Larcis Ducasse, La Prade, Laclaverie, Charmes Godard and Puygueraud.  Cyrille Thienpont: Owns and manages the Nicolas Thienpont group of properties with his father, as well as managing and making the wine at L’If.  There are many more members of the Thienpont family involved in wine, but these are the most prominent at the time of writing.   Explore all current listings of L’If or read more about Bordeaux 

Le Pin is one of the world’s most famous wines – but it’s just one of the Thienpont family projects. We dissect the dynasty and explore the evolution of L’If, the Saint-Emilion estate that is emerging as one of the region’s most exciting names

Jacques Thienpont created cult Pomerol wine estate Le Pin in 1979, but now he’s got a new project in Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux: L’If 

Exploring L’If: Le Pin’s Saint-Emilion sibling 

Bordeaux is changing. The Left Bank, in particular, has long been a region of labels – of grandiose estates, polished winemakers and the bottles they produce – the vineyards a backdrop to their impressive châteaux and new state-of-the-art wineries. Of course, vineyards have mattered, as much as they’re the source of their grapes, but they’ve rarely been the focus for conversations with trade or consumers. But now, perhaps influenced by the meteoric rise of Burgundy – and an approach to wine echoed around the world, terroir is stepping into the spotlight. Behind the scenes, the Bordelais may always have been looking underfoot, but now they are talking about it too.  Nowhere is this more true than at Ch. Montrose – a property that announced a significant change when releasing its 2023 vintage. The property has always made some of Bordeaux’s finest wines, but over the past 15 years (under the Bouygues’ ownership) quality at this Saint-Estèphe estate has reached new heights. Long known for its austere age-worthiness, there’s now a modern polish that softens its stern style – without sacrificing its classicism and longevity. Each vintage seems to reveal a new level of precision and finesse. From 2023, Montrose announced that its Grand Vin would only come from Terrace 4 (T4). If that doesn’t mean much to you, I’m not surprised.  The Médoc and Graves’s six gravel terraces were uncovered by Pierre Becheler in a series of studies in the 1980s and ’90s. Each terrace dates from a different period and has its own distinct soils, with Terrace 1 (T1) the oldest and Terrace 6 (T6) the youngest – and argued to be a defining factor in the Left Bank’s terroir. T3 and T4 are widely regarded as the best for wine-growing, and Becheler found that, at the time of their classification in 1855, over 80% of the Classed Growths sat on these two distinct geological strata.  In the last decade, these gravel mounds have become a key part of Bordeaux’s story, explaining the estates’ terroir. Despite widespread understanding that the terraces are integral to the quality of wine, there still isn’t a comprehensive map of the Left Bank’s terroir – showing which vineyards sit on which soils (the best are those created by Jane Anson and Kees van Leeuwen for Anson’s book Inside Bordeaux). Most studies have been undertaken by individual estates, as at Montrose – who engaged Becheler himself to uncover the specifics of their site.  It's remarkable that, without knowing anything about the region’s subsoils, Montrose was so fortuitously placed – although it has of course survived thanks to its prestigious site. The property’s first vines were planted – all on the fabled T4 – in 1815, by Etienne Théodore Dumoulin, who had purchased the land from Nicolas Alexandre de Ségur (of Calon Ségur). The land had been covered in heather, its pink blossom covering the gentle slope come autumn, and sailors passing along the Gironde estuary used to call it the pink hill – or “mont rose”, giving the property its name.  It was only 40 years after the first vines went in the ground that the estate earned its place as a Second Growth in the 1855 Classification. By 1861, when Dumoulin passed away, the estate comprised 95 hectares – but its borders have shifted over the years. It was later purchased by an Alsace factory owner, Mathieu Dolfus, who invested heavily in the property. He was a visionary – offering free healthcare, profit sharing and accommodation on the estate for his workers. He even used a wind turbine to flood the vineyards, staving off the impact of phylloxera as long as he could.  Montrose was managed by the Charmolüe family between 1896 and 2006, with Jean-Louis – who ran the estate from 1960 – key in building its modern reputation. It was under him, in the 1970s, that vines were planted on lower-lying land close to the estuary, which sits on T5. These humid, sandy parcels are now used for La Dame de Montrose, the château’s second wine.  It was in 2006 that brothers Olivier and Martin Bouygues (of the eponymous telecoms company) acquired the property. In 2010 they bought an additional 22 hectares from Phélan Ségur, land which had historically been part of Montrose. These vineyards, wooded on either side, sit on the sandier T3, but importantly also brought the total vineyard area back to 95 hectares – as under Dumoulin – and all sitting in one block (something which is relatively rare in Bordeaux).  The Bouygues brothers hired Vincent Decup as the estate’s Technical Director in 2014. Decup instantly set about getting to grips with the estate and its soils. When he arrived, they had a map detailing 16 different soil types across the vineyards – but he soon commissioned further studies, uncovering an additional 10 soil types. This gave them, Decup tells me, “the possibility to explore and separate” parcels, diving into the detail of the site with a Burgundian, rather than Bordelais, vision. From 2017, the team started delineating the parcels – vinifying plots in 93 separate tanks (over twice the 40 that had been used just three years prior), adapting the winemaking to each. Looking at the Cabernet Sauvignon on T3 and T4, he explains how they gained a “new level of precision and comprehension of Cabernet on each terrace”.  “The Cabernet Sauvignon of Montrose naturally gets lots of power,” Decup tells me. “We have to be careful with the extraction.” Especially for fruit from T3, he explains, it can easily become overly austere. T4 has always represented the majority of the blend for the Grand Vin at Montrose – and in Decup’s mind it is not just the property’s historic DNA, but what gives the wine its identity. He tells me how there is something magical about the way Cabernet ripens on these parcels, developing technical (sugar), aromatic and phenolic ripeness all at once. It produces wine that is “powerful, voluminous, demonstrative – a lion in a cage”.  In 2022, the same year that Charlotte Bouygues took over as President and Pierre Graffeuille became CEO, the team started focusing more on T4, and from 2023 the Grand Vin comes exclusively from this prized terrace. Coming from the Delon estates, Graffeuille knew the potential of these soils, shared by Léoville Las Cases. The 2022 vintage was pivotal – earning four potential 100-point scores, with four firm 100-point scores in bottle – and the 2023 followed in its footsteps, with three potential perfect scores to its name.  The gravel terraces rise and fall through the region. T4 surfaces in Saint-Estèphe, running under Meyney and Montrose, disappearing until the southern edge of Pauillac, reappearing around Latour, then running through much of Saint-Julien (including the three Léovilles – Las Cases, Barton and Poyferré – and Ducru-Beaucaillou), rising again throughout Margaux and then again under Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion, with small pockets further south.  The defining factor of T4 is an iron pan beneath its sandy gravels. The sandy gravel topsoil allows young vines to develop roots easily, before they hit the compact iron layer – forcing the vines to spread horizontally rather than vertically. That compact layer is cool and retains water, feeding the vines in hot years. Decup explains how in July the topsoil might be hot, but if you dig down you can feel the chill of the iron layer – something that is perfect for Cabernet Sauvignon. At Montrose, T4 sits between 12 and 16 metres’ altitude, while elsewhere it reaches a maximum 22 metres. T4 tends to run close to the Gironde, which provides a moderating influence – especially so at Montrose, where the estuary is 4.5km wide (notably protecting the estate from frosts, such as in the brutal 1991 season – a year when Montrose produced the wine of the vintage).  As with T4, T3 runs beneath many Classed Growths – notably Cos d’Estournel, Mouton and Lafite. With sandier gravel topsoil, the key difference is that T3 doesn’t have the iron pan of T4 – the topsoil instead sitting directly on clay-limestone subsoil. Slightly higher in altitude (15-18 metres at Montrose, but generally 20-26 across the Médoc), the soils are very deep and the vines’ roots drive straight down, up to three metres or so at Montrose, Decup tells me. With less clay in the topsoil, the soils are particularly free-draining, and the vines reach down in search of water. “In terms of expression, it is not the same at all,” says Decup. He explains that while it also produces bold Cabernet Sauvignon, it’s got particular energy and length, an austerity – but “positive austerity”. Vines on T3 particularly thrive in hot, dry years, he tells me.  Montrose has an impressive 45 hectares of vines on T4, 12 on T3, a swathe on what the team describes as an “intermediate soil” – somewhere between the two terraces, and a small portion on T5. So what now of the property’s vines on T3? While the château isn’t openly confirming it, a separate bottling of T3 is set to be released – likely hitting the market in 2026, if rumours are to be believed. The rest of the fruit goes into La Dame de Montrose, and a small portion into a third wine, Tertio de Montrose (previously known as Saint-Estèphe de Montrose), which is exclusively for those working at the estate. All in all, the Grand Vin now represents circa 36% of production at Montrose – down from closer to 45%.   “T3 and T4 are, in our opinion, the terraces that produce the best viticultural results,” says Pierre Becheler, when it comes to the Médoc and Haut-Médoc. Interestingly he explains that in the Graves it’s very different, and T2, which is almost non-existent in the Médoc, produces some stunning results. He can’t fully explain why one terrace works better for wine than another, but one reason the terraces are so important is their influence on water availability. With varying proportions of clay and sizes of gravel, it’s a key element in viticulture and, eventually, wine quality. Although he has spent much of his career diving into these gravel beds, however, he’s very clear that the terraces are one very important piece of the puzzle – but will never provide the entire picture. Some terraces are the best in certain appellations, he says, “but we don’t really know why or how”.  The complexities of Bordeaux’s terroir are manifold – and some argue that the bedrock, from richer clays to hard limestones, are more influential than the gravel terraces that lie over them. On top of this, slope exposition, proximity to the Gironde, and many other elements influencing microclimate, not to mention the human influence, all contribute to the concept of “terroir”. It’s exciting to see site pushed to the fore, especially alongside an increased focus on sustainability in the vineyard. The conversation is evolving – and, if Montrose’s 2023 is anything to go by, it’s only going to push quality in the region higher than ever before.  Explore all current Montrose listing (including a special selection of ex-château stock) or read more about Bordeaux 

While long a leading estate, recent vintages of Ch. Montrose have earned sky-high scores. We sat down with the property’s Technical Director Vincent Decup to find out how the team is taking the Saint-Estèphe titan to new heights – all by looking underfoot  

Sitting down with Ch. Montrose’s Technical Director Vincent Decup to talk about its terroir, terraces and perfect-scoring vintages of the Saint-Estephe wine 

FINE+RARE: Talking terraces and terroir with Ch. Montrose 

What lies beneath: talking terraces and terroir with Ch. Montrose  

“Two generations ago everyone made Chablis like this. Now I am the only one left,” says Daniel-Etienne Defaix proudly. It is amazing to think that production methods could completely reverse in such a short time, no doubt fuelled by the “Chardonnay boom” of the mid-70s onwards. This insatiable global demand for crisp, clean, saline-tinged Chardonnay has shown no sign of abating ever since.  The commercial success of Chablis (one of the few white wines found in practically every supermarket, off-licence and fine wine store around the world) is staggering, particularly as the region in itself is remarkably small. While both premium growers and commercial production have, in many ways, sat comfortably alongside each other (even among the top traditional premium growers such as Raveneau, Dauvissat, Billaud-Simon and Droin, the length of élevage has reduced considerably in this time. Despite being the oldest domaine in Chablis, established in 1610, his father (like most other producers in Chablis when exports boomed) started to produce Chablis in the modern way. The time spent ageing the wine on its lees dropped down to six to nine months, in order to release the wines as soon as possible, and meet market demand. Unimpressed by his father’s results and the wines’ ageing capacity, it was Daniel-Etienne’s decision to change tact and to retrace his grandfather’s footsteps, performing a longer élevage – which for Defaix brings out the complexity and terroir characteristics Chablis is truly capable of.   So why has Etienne persisted? What is it that makes this technique so valuable to him? He admits he is fortunate to own the largest cellars in Chablis, claiming to have seven to 10 times more cellar space than anyone else in the village. ”This gives me a lot more freedom,” he explains – both in terms of ageing his wines (of which he has up to 15 vintages of each Premier and Grand Cru in the cellars at any one time), but also financial freedom. “My wines are my own bank: I don’t need to take out loans when there is a poor harvest,” he says. This no doubt puts Defaix in a minority in Chablis, where yields have been pretty catastrophic over the last decade, plagued by spring frosts. Financial autonomy has allowed him to continue making his Chablis in a traditional long-ageing method, while at the same time keeping pricing incredibly fair.  According to Defaix the key to long-ageing Chablis is protecting the glycerol content in the grapes, since it is the glycerol that takes around two years on the lees to break down and starts to act as an anti-oxidant. He does this by carrying out slow, three-hour press cycles of the grapes and keeping only the first press for bottling. He ferments at a cool 18°C, again to preserve the glycerol in the must. “Glycerol provides the balance in aged Chablis between sugar and alcohol. Glycerol gives fat and seduction to the wine,” says Defaix. “It brings a brioche taste to the wine, without being sweet.” But this takes time to produce: Defaix typically ages his Premiers Crus a staggering seven to nine years on the fine lees in tank; for his Grands Crus it can be eight to 15 years!    It might come as a surprise that – despite making this almost forgotten, ultra-traditional style of Chablis – Defaix machine-picks all his grapes. But this decision was not made easily, nor without extensive testing. He explains that they were, in fact, one of the last domaines to buy a machine harvester. Back in the ’80s his father, sceptical of others’ results, started his own research – picking half the grapes by hand and half by machine. After 10 years in bottle each year, they invited wine professionals, chefs and sommeliers to blind taste both. Every single time, the wines by machine were unanimously thought to be better. Defaix came to the conclusion that the exact timing of the harvest is more important than the hand selection. He also states that the technology makes today’s picking machines extraordinarily accurate: ripe fruit falls in the basket, rotten fruit is too light and is easily filtered out, while any green grapes stay on the vine. Turbines attached to the machine suck in the leaves and insects and are removed prior to the grapes reaching the winery. During his experiments, his machine harvested-fruit was a full 1.5% higher in alcohol than the hand-selected fruit in poor vintages.  Daniel-Etienne is the 15th generation of his family to produce wine in Chablis over the last 400 years. Now in his 35th vintage, he has never been more convinced by his traditional style, its ageability and its ability to express the varied Chablis terroir.  Read more Editorial

We explore the traditional methods behind Daniel-Étienne Defaix's wines and how the global thirst for Chablis threatened its existence.

Daniel-Étienne Defaix, Chablis wines made to age

Daniel-Étienne Defaix: Chablis built to age

Domaine de Montille is one of the most historic estates in the Cote d’Or, founded in 1730 and family-run and owned ever since. Today Etienne de Montille is the ninth generation at the helm.  The De Montille story through the ages is a familiar one in Burgundy in which for a long period there was a dwindling of holdings as more and more of their prized vineyards were agonisingly sold off to make ends meet during the lean years of the early twentieth century. Etienne’s father, Hubert de Montille took over the estate in 1947, aged just 17, by this time the domaine had just 2.5 hectares to its name. Etienne’s father knew that he had to change tack if the domaine was to survive and worked both as a vigneron and a lawyer to finance returning the estate to its former glory. Like his father, Etienne used his earnings as a lawyer to build up the domaine’s acreage, including a novel acquisition approach that in 2005 saw him acquire one of the region's finest Premier Cru sites - Vosne-Romanee Premier Cru Les Malconsorts – neighbouring the Grand Cru of La Tache.  The estate now produces over 35 cuvées from appellations throughout the Cote d’Or. Etienne talks us through the De Montille’s bumpy history, its extensive vineyard acquisition in recent years, how he learnt to make white wine from his brother-in-law (who just so happened to be Jean-Marc Roulot), as well as mapping out the different flavour profiles of his favourite sites at the heart of the domaine in Volnay and neighbouring Pommard. 
The history of the domaine 
Based in Volnay, the De Montille estate has had its fair share of ups and down. It once had one of the finest portfolios of vineyards anywhere in the Cote d’Or (including Bonnes Mares, Musigny and Amoureuses), before these famed sites were sold off to make ends meet. Hubert de Montille on taking over the estate in 1947, brought renewed fame to the domaine, being one of the first in Burgundy to domaine bottle his wines and whose Volnay 1er crus quickly became some of the finest in the appellation. At this time, 90% of all Burgundy was made and bottled by the large négociant houses.  
Whilst historic estates such as Domaine de la Romanee Conti, Georges Roumier and Armand Rousseau were bottling their own wines, it was the Marquis d’Angerville of Volnay that no doubt set a trend in the Cote de Beaune by bottling his own wine, starting in the 1930s. Marquis d’Angerville chastised the exploitation of the main negociants at the time, who in response refused to bottle his wines, forcing him to bottle them himself.  As Etienne explains the Marquis d’Angerville was an important figure in Burgundy at the time, not only setting the trend of domaine bottling in the region but also becoming one of the main instigators behind developing the AOC framework of the Cote d’Or, mapping the official boundaries of the Grand Cru and Premier Cru sites, a process that began in 1935. 
The distinct influence of Hubert de Montille 
The De Montille estate became famed for Hubert’s single-minded approach of making wines how he wanted them, austere and built for long ageing, making them fairly unapproachable in their youth. He was also known for his minimal chapitalisation, a method which he discovered accidentally by miscalculating his sugar levels on one of his cuvees in the 1959 vintage. It was only a couple of years later that he discovered how much better this cuvee aged than his other wines of the 1959 vintage and therefore adopted this approach going forward.  
Whilst, as Etienne explains, chapitalisation (the addition of sugar to the grape juice prior to fermentation to increase alcohol levels) in top estates in the modern era is very rarely adopted, it certainly didn’t harm the estate’s reputation when critics in the '90s started to raise concerns over over-chapitalisation as a worrying trend in the region.  Whilst over-chapitalisaton is rare today, the process is still adopted in the wineries when necessary. Very rarely spoken about amongst vignerons, Etienne describes it as similar to the seasoning of food. Certain cuvees in certain vineyards may benefit from a light chapitalisation or even acidification if required; two processes that remain contentious outside of Burgundy. With De Montille famed for low chapitalisation and long ageing wines, the domaine's reputation continued to grow. 
Etienne takes on the domaine 
On taking over the domaine in 1998 (following a staggering 50-year stint by his father), Etienne de Montille was an early advocate of organic farming. He continued to grow the estate, incorporating more Chardonnay vineyards to what was previously exclusively a Pinot- Noir producing domaine. Their first white wine vineyard purchase was the 1er Cru Puligny Montrachet Le Caillerat bought by Hubert in 1993. Etienne learnt how to make white wine under the guidance of his brother-in-law, who just so happened to be Jean-Marc Roulot and only helped see the domaine’s reputation grow.  Etienne recounts how Jean-Marc Roulot had a similar route to winemaking in that they both had successful careers outside of wine before returning to their family estates. Jean Marc Roulot is an actor, and was based in Paris at the same time Etienne was working as a lawyer there. Having both a separate career and being a vigneron, Etienne believes, made them both very open-minded in their second profession as winemakers and Jean-Marc Roulot was happy to share his knowledge in white wine production as well as them both being more innovative with their methods.  
Having two professions was a tradition passed down from one generation to the next of the de Montille family, with one of the siblings always working in legal services either as judges or lawyers. Etienne explains how it was in fact Hubert de Montille’s work as a lawyer looking after the estates of Monsieur Chatron that led to the acquisition of De Montille’s first chardonnay vineyard – Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Le Caillerets – one of the finest sites in Puligny neighbouring the Grand Cru of Montrachet.  
Hubert worked as his lawyer advising him on how to pay off his inheritance fees in order to pass down the estate to the next generation. To do this he had to sell off some vines and offered Hubert to buy the Le Cailleret vineyard in Puligny to thank him for his services. Although not an experienced white winemaker, with Jean Roulot recently marrying his daughter, it seemed to be the perfect opportunity to get him on board and teach the young Etienne his white wine philosophy. 
A novel acquisition approach  
Etienne’s experience as a lawyer gave him the confidence to incorporate a novel approach to acquiring vineyards in the Cote d’Or at a time when vineyard acquisition was and remains a contentious issue for vignerons in the region. It led to Etienne successfully buying up vineyards including one of the Cote d’Or’s greatest sites: Vosne Romanee 1er Cru Malconsorts, neighbouring the Grand Cru of La Tache. Etienne explains that although his father had successfully taken his 2.5 hectares estate to 10 hectares over a 50-year period, the land prices of Burgundy were becoming too expensive for this to continue.  With the Malconsorts vineyard along with the vineyards of the Thomas Moillard domaine put up for sale, Etienne thought the opportunity was too good to miss and approached the Seysses family (Domaine Dujac) to see if they would be interested in setting up a land company, buying the land together and using minority shareholders to finance the acquisition.  
These minority shareholders would then rent out their share of the land to the two estates and were often paid back in wine. Back then, Etienne states, it was the first time ever in Burgundy that two smaller family estates had bought a larger property. Etienne pioneered the legal structure to favour the vignerons with the controlling share and it became a popular method that was copied all over Burgundy by other vignerons following their success. Etienne states “this is unlikely to happen again, land in Burgundy between now and 2005 has gone up by almost 12 times the value”.  Despite this, Etienne successfully managed another huge acquisition following the financial crash of 2008 when he purchased Domaine de Puligny Montrachet. This estate was a property he had managed ever since he returned back to Burgundy from Paris in 2001. At that time it was owned by a bank and following financial pressures of the economic crash in 2008, viewed the estate as a non-performing asset and therefore put it up for sale. Due to Etienne’s connection, he was given first refusal.  Since taking over the property in 2009 an EU law that came into practice in 2017 banned the use of an appellation name to be part of a domaine name, so since 2017, the wines under the original Chateau de Puligny Montrachet have been incorporated into the De Montille domaine, increasing their holdings to a total of 37 hectares (20 in red; 17 in white) in 35 separate appellations. 
Etienne de Montille's winemaking philosophy 
But Etienne’s skills are not only in acquisition. He was an early advocate of organic farming, practising organic principles from 2003. He also changed the style of the De Montille wines making them less austere than his father’s with his influence coming through the wines from the 1998 vintage onwards. Etienne incorporates whole bunch fermentation but varies the quantity depending on the specific terroirs.  
Identifying the nuance of each site and how much whole cluster to use is the key to his red winemaking, ranging from 20% to 100% whole bunch depending on the site. He carries out no cold soak prior to fermentation which takes place at ambient temperatures with low-level extraction, punch downs are carried out only when necessary. All wine is aged in barrel between 5% to 60% new oak depending on the site and vintage conditions, followed by a long élevage prior to bottling. The approach to white wines, under the influence of Jean-Marc Roulot’s teachings, is to be very conscious of preserving the acidic backbone of the wine providing a precise length and expression of terroir. The wine is barrel fermented followed by long élevage (12 months in barrel) and aged further on the lees in tank - 2 to 6 months with one racking. The percentage of new oak again varies depending on the specific plots, ranging from 5% to 50% new oak barrel. 
Mapping Volnay and Pommard’s Premier Crus  
Etienne states that all the top Volnay Premier Cru sites are on the middle slopes of the appellation. Whilst slightly varying in topography and exposition, Etienne believes the flavour profiles of each of the vineyards is 80% to do with the geology and topsoil of the specific vineyard, with the winemaking of each producer, the vintage variation and the exposition of the vineyards combined making up the remaining 20%.  This highlights the overwhelming terroir influence of these Premier Crus.  Volnay 1er Cru Brouillards  "This is the most accessible of our Premier Crus and what is best described as 'very Volnay'. It has all the characteristics most closely associated with the appellation – pretty red fruit, very juicy, elegant light tannins and very approachable." Volnay 1er Cru Champans "The Champans is similar to Brouillard in its fruitiness and approachability, although the tannins are firmer and slightly more structured.  "But it is a very expressive and immediate, open-style Volnay. We use two-thirds whole cluster in this cuvee."  Volnay 1er Cru Mitans  "The Mitans is the most perfumed and fragrant of the Premier Crus in Volnay. And whilst the Champans is also very expressive, the aromas of Mitans are more serious, not just fruit but mineral too. Here we use 100% whole cluster fermentation." Volnay 1er Cru Taille Pieds "This is the flagship cuvee of our estate. It is the most mineral-driven wine in Volnay. Very spicy, very stony and lots of saline character. The wine has huge depth and a very long finish.  "It is however the least open and the less approachable requiring time in bottle to develop. Even at 40 – 60 years old the wine shows beautiful combination of rose petal, earth, morrel mushroom and truffle character. The wine has so many facets to it."  Pommard 1er Cru Rugiens Bas  "This wine is a planet on its own. It has the elegance and finesse of top Volnay site but with the depth and breadth and structure more akin to top Pommard vineyards. It is Grand Cru quality and the top site in Pommard."  Pommard 1er Cu Grands Epenots "The most classic Pommard in style. Deep clay soils give the wine huge structure, sometimes can be a bit rustic to start with. Tannic, big, powerful wine." 
Pommard 1er Cru Pezerolles "This is the most Volnay-like Pommard 1er cru in the appellation despite being the furthest site away from Volnay. It is the most elegant Premier Cru of Pommard."  Nuits Saints Georges 1er Cru Aux Thorey  Etienne describes how this single vineyard site was bought in the acquisition of the Thomas Moillard domaine, along with the Malconsorts vineyard. When identifying which vineyards to buy in the sharing of the estate Etienne heard that Sylvain Cathiard considered the Aux Thorey vineyard to be amongst the best terroirs in Nuits St Georges and that was enough to persuade him of its potential. The site is certainly more Vosne in profile than Nuits Saint Georges, with fine tannins, elegant structure and beautiful perfumes similar to the vineyards of the much admired La Damodes.
 Explore more Editorial 

Etienne de Montille talks us through the De Montille’s bumpy history, its huge growth in vineyard acquisition, how he learnt to make white wine from his brother-in-law, Jean Marc Roulot, as well as mapping out the different flavour profiles of his favourite sites in Volnay and neighbouring Pommard.

Domaine de Montille is the most historic Cote d’Or estate. Etienne de Montille talks about the Volnay wine estate's bumpy history and its huge recent growth.

The Genealogy of Domaine de Montille

Domaine de Montille: The genealogy of the estate

Burgundy expert Jasper Morris MW has had his finger on the region’s wine pulse for several decades. Especially for FONDATA, he profiles eight domaines to watch, producers that are bringing vital energy and fresh winemaking talent to the celebrated wine region 

Jasper Morris MW on eight of Burgundy’s most exciting domaines – including Eleni & Edouard Vocoret, Chantereves, Alvina Pernot and more 

The new Burgundians – Jasper Morris MW 

The new Burgundians

For the aperitif For Domaine Long-Depaquit’s Matthieu Mangenot it is the energy and power of Champagne Brut Nature Les Marnes Blanches from Jeaunaux-Robin, that makes it his choice at Christmas. “I can't say for sure if it is the 100% Chardonnay selection or the very elegant vinification in Burgundy barrel that is this Champagne’s (hidden) tribute to our region but there is absolutely no ‘make up‘ with this Champagne. With no dosage it is a true expression of Chardonnay and terroir. To me, it is the best sparkling to get you ready for Christmas dinner!”  Klaus-Peter Keller (Weingut Keller) and his family love Champagne Bérèche & Fils or Krug, “but we will definitely enjoy some sparkling wines from Germany too!” he adds. Gianlorenzo di Neri from Montalcino’s Casanova di Neri is also choosing something local, with a 2002 Trentodoc – Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore, as well as a family favourite, Champagne Egly-Ouriet’s Blanc de Noirs. Saskia de Rothschild (Ch. Lafite-Rothschild) breaks the mould and prefers to drink ice-cold Sauternes as an aperitif rather than sparkling wine. She is still toying on whether to go young or old, deciding between a 2017, an 2007 or 1989 from Ch. Rieussec. The whites White Burgundy seems the overwhelmingly popular choice for the Christmas table. Francisco Baettig (Viña Errázuriz, Viñedo Chadwick and Baettig wines) opting for a bottle of Pulingy-Montrachet Les Combettes from Etienne Sauzet. “I love the elegance and balance of this appellation, and the purity of the wines from this producer.” Neri is saving his last bottle of 2005 Bourgogne Blanc by Coche-Dury alongside a 1991 Terlano Rarita, a Pinot Bianco blend released 25 years after it was made, proving the incredible ageing potential of top whites from Alto Adige. Mangenot has also opted for a rarity for the special day – a magnum of 2012 Nuits-Saint-Georges Blanc from Château-Gris (Albert Bichot). Chardonnay accounts for just 2% of the Nuits-Saint-Georges appellation. “The wine has a lot of richness and a beautiful tension due to the altitude of the vineyards,” says Mangenot: he is pairing it with cod fillet and citrus cream. Keller is bucking the trend and unsurprisingly opting for dry Rieslings, specifically from the 1990s, along with an eagerly awaited bottle of 1959 Mosel Piesporter Schubertslay. In 2008, Keller (although based in Rheinhessen) took over 0.7 hectares of this incredibly steep slope in the Mosel and he is using his Christmas dinner to do some research on this Mosel site with some serious bottle age. The reds Keller is not holding back on the reds: he’s got a 1966 Ch. la Mission Haut-Brion and a 1991 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru from Hubert Lignier lined up. Gianlorenzo di Neri is also opting for a Clos de la Roche, although his is a 2006 from Armand Rousseau. At the Neri household they love to compare Grand Cru Burgundy with their Brunellos, “It should be amazing to taste our 2006 Tenuta Nuova alongside.” Beyond Brunello and Burgundy, they will also be enjoying some top Nebbiolo, but it’s not an easy choice. “For Barolo we love so many producers, Elio Grasso’s Runcot – 2008 should be delicious now – or possibly Giacosa’s 2007 Barbaresco Asili Riserva.” For Mangenot, “The middle of winter is a good period to open a bottle of sunshine like Cornas Vin Noir 2012 from Domaine du Tunnel (my wife loves it!) – concentration, density, beautiful complexity, silky tannins… And a bunch of aromas that turns your dinner into a summer journey in a convertible car with your nose in the wind!” Beattig is also opting for Northern Rhône Syrah from his favourite producer Pierre Gonon, a Saint-Joseph. “I love the complexity of aromas, the spiciness. The structure of the wine, but at the same time the polished tannins. The mix of freshness, complexity and depth... love it.” At the Rothschild household it will of course be Lafite: “1988 or/and 1996: two absolute favourites of mine these days,” Saskia explains. “The 1988 is pure Lafite, extremely complex and evolving and the ’96, thanks to its perfect balance, is just so easy to drink that you’ll finish the bottle without even noticing it.” Jean-Guillaume Prats (CEO of Domaines Barons de Rothschild Lafite) is staying pretty loyal too, opting for Pomerol’s Ch. l’Evangile 2010. To finish Finally the sweets and fortifieds: there is never a better time to open aged Ports to go with the cheese and desserts of Christmas. For Lafite’s Jean-Guillaume Prats it will be Dow’s 1977 – in his words, “perfection”. Mangenot is also going for Vintage Port: Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos 2001, “to go with a homemade chocolate mousse, and the rest of the bottle definitely to enjoy slowly by the fire with the family… Fruits, flowers, creamy character, it is a treat for the nose and the palate I wouldn't miss it at any price.” Keller decides on the sweet wines more spontaneously: “One of our favorite combinations is matching 40 and 50-year-old Ausleses with game dishes. It can taste so great. The anticipation is already great.” If fortifieds are not your thing, then take Jean-Sébastien Philippe of Lafite’s recommendation: he’ll be having a glass (or two) of Cognac de Lafite Très Vieille Réserve. He believes it is one of the most astonishing selections of old eaux-de-vies in Cognac. Browse our full range

There’s no better time than Christmas to open a treasured bottle or two. Ahead of the big day, we asked a handful of our favourite winemakers – from Saskia de Rothschild to Klaus-Peter Keller – to tell us what they’ll be uncorking

We find out the special bottles some of our favourite winemakers and distillers are uncorking this Christmas

What winemakers are drinking this Christmas

It’s difficult to make broad statements about a year like 2023 in Bordeaux. Following on from our vintage overview, we delve further into the year, breaking it down by commune to offer insight on how each subregion fared in this singular vintage     

Bordeaux 2023: a breakdown of the vintage by region, with top picks from Saint-Estephe, Pauillac, Margaux, Saint-Julien, Saint-Emilion and Pomerol 

Bordeaux 2023 – breaking the year down by commune

Bordeaux 2023: the vintage by commune

Etienne Sauzet

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