2013 Domaine Matrot Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru 'Les Chalumeaux'

The story began with Joseph MATROT (1881-1963), the grandson of owners of a family wine estate in Puligny-Montrachet and Blagny who lived with his wife Marguerite Amoignon and their three children at Château d’Evelle. Marguerite also owned a beautiful wine estate in Meursault. In 1914 they took up residence in Marguerite’s family home and decided to develop and extend the estate. This today, is the seat of Domaine Matrot. Their son, Pierre MATROT began working as a winegrower in 1937. Together with his wife Simone Bonin, they had five children. Pierre also bought vineyards and modernised the estate.

The controls are just as numerous during vinification and the same attention to detail is also evident in the entire pressing, fermentation, bottling and ageing process. Thierry prefers long and uneventful fermentations for eight to ten weeks. Thierry never adjusts the alcohol content by more than half a degree in order to maintain the balance of the grapes. As he puts it,”It is important to know that a grape can be ripe at 12 degrees of potential alcohol one year and at 14 degrees the following year.” In a desire to accentuate the character of the vintage, the wines are matured for 11 to 12 months in 228 litre French barriques. The usage of one- to five-year-old barrels for the white wines and 10 to 20 % new barrels for the reds is considered appropriate.