Jean Michel Guillon

Domaine Guillon & Fils sits at 33 route de Beaune in Gevrey-Chambertin, in the heart of the Côte de Nuits, and its story is one of the more unusual in Burgundy. Jean-Michel Guillon was an engineer by trade. He fell for Burgundy, moved to Gevrey in 1980, and started with two hectares of rented vines. That is close to nothing in a village where land almost never comes up for sale and where the neighbours have been there for generations. Forty-five years on, the domaine farms nearly sixteen hectares across about twenty appellations.

His son Alexis joined him in 2001 and has been alongside him for more than twenty years since. The domaine trades as Guillon & Fils now, and the handover has been gradual rather than abrupt.

The holdings amount to a proper spread of the Côte de Nuits: Gevrey-Chambertin at village, premier cru and grand cru level, plus Fixin, Marsannay-la-Côte, Morey-Saint-Denis, Clos de Vougeot and regional Bourgogne in both colours. The bottled range runs wider still, taking in Mazis-Chambertin, three Gevrey premiers crus, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Chambolle-Musigny and a Santenay blanc.

Two things define the wines. The first is the farming and the kit. The domaine has been certified Haute Valeur Environnementale at level three since 2016, and it has spent steadily on the practical equipment that decides quality at harvest: a sorting table, an optical sorter, temperature-controlled stainless tanks, a cooling unit. In a warming climate none of that is a luxury.

The second is oak, and it is worth being clear about because it divides opinion. Guillon ages every cuvée in 100 per cent new barrels. Not the grands crus only, not the premiers crus only: everything, down to the regional Bourgogne. He has joked for years about being the biggest barrel buyer in Gevrey. If you dislike new oak in Pinot Noir, this is not the domaine for you, and that is worth knowing before you buy rather than after. If you like the classic, richer Gevrey style, it is done here with more conviction than almost anywhere.

The Bourgogne Pinot Noir Les Graviers is a regional appellation wine made by a Gevrey grower and priced accordingly. The village Chambolle-Musigny is the other one to know here, and consecutive vintages of it repay drinking side by side, because Burgundy years can differ enormously.

One note worth adding. Chambolle-Musigny is not among the appellations this domaine farms, although Chambolle appears in its range, so the fruit for that wine is very likely bought in rather than estate-grown. That is a common and perfectly respectable arrangement in Burgundy, and worth knowing.