Domaine de Montille

When Etienne de Montille joined the family business in the 1990s, it was a very different operation from the bustling, grandiose one it is today. Back then, his legendary father produced a handful of ultra classical, long-living Volnays and Pommards from their house and cellars in Volnay. Today the domaine totals 20 hectares and includes vineyards in Vosne, Vougeot, Nuits, Corton, Beaune Meursault and Puligny. Stylistically the wines have changed though they remain pure and gentle and pleasingly un-extracted. Etienne’s right-hand man in the cellars is Brian Sieve, a Californian Burgundian with a love of terroir. Together, in their spacious cellars in Meursault, they craft whites of rapier-like vitality and minerality and reds with grace, finesse and whole bunch freshness. New oak is well managed and rarely intrusive, whilst the amount of whole bunches used is adapted to the terroir, the age of vines and, of course, the vintage. The longevity that Etienne’s father sought and crafted is still there today in the wines, but there is more seductive flesh and aromatic appeal in youth than there was once. If you want Pommard’s with fragrance and Meursaults with vibrancy, this is the place to come.