posted on February 28, 2015
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Xavier Guillaume in his vines
One of our most successful partnerships in Burgundy is with the Domaine Henri-Marie Guillaume, in Charcenne, near the old Ducal seat at Gy, managed by brothers Henri-Xavier and Pierre-Marie. Their 200 hectares are dedicated to providing plant material to the most important wine producers in Europe. They also provide advice, so that when
Madame Bize Leroy’s vineyards were suffering terribly from mildew in her first year of
biodynamie, she called Henri-Marie. And when Paolo di Marchi wanted to overhaul Isole e Olena and finally come to terms with the viticultural and clonal challenges of Tuscany, he too found Guillaume. In fact, our own Frank Splane found Guillaume during a lunch at Isole when he asked Paolo why they were drinking
Vin de Pays de Franche-Comté Pinot Noir in Tuscany. Paolo’s reply was that he buys root stocks from Guillaume…and that he likes the wines. And it turns out that Guillaume’s client list looks like a catalog of Moore Brothers producers. The wines, which purists will argue aren’t properly Burgundy (they have the status only of Vin de Pays de Franche-Comté because of the location of the vines), are made primarily to evaluate the nursery work. It only happens that they’re wonderful wines in their own right: steely Chardonnays akin to the wines of the Haut Côtes de Nuits and Pinot Noirs that drink like fine Burgundy at half the price.
Posted under Meet the Winegrowers