Producer Update

More accommodating accommodations ;-)

By billn on June 26, 2026 #events#producer update#tours#travel

If you are looking for upmarket accommodation, there are two new options within minutes of Beaune. First, lets start with Beaune:

Domaine Albert Morot

Wednesday was the official ‘inauguration’ of the Domaine under new ownership and following significant renovations.

It is the husband-and-wife team of Guillaume Poitrinal and Sophie Desmazières-Poitrinal who acquired and renovated this important Beaune property, and not just the property; the winery and the walls of their monopole Savigny 1er cru Clos de la Bataillère (in Vergelesses) have also seen similar treatment.

In the (relatively) short time for renovations here, at least in the glacial timescales of LVMH or Artémis, the work which has been completed still bears comparison with domaines under those marques. The fully air-conditioned mansion-house (the old Château de Creusotte) sports 10 rooms for rent, of course with views over the vines. The impressive kitchen seems shared, but I’m sure that you can bring your own chef! If interested…

I have seldom seen such an assembly of ‘worthies’ of the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits in one place to celebrate the inauguration of another winery – much kudos for that – more people were waiting in the 30+ degree heat of the garden than all of Place Carnot that afternoon!

I will continue to visit and taste the wines of their winery head Jean Pierre Villa who made such a good start with his 2023s…

Hotel Château la Commaraine

Commaraine
Image from the Hotel…

Looking out onto its 3.6 hectare Pommard 1er cru Clos, and after 5 years of construction work, the hotel was finally opened at the end of April. I visited today, and they already had ‘95%’ occupancy.

Integrated into the property’s footprint is the winery of the Commaraine domaine, which covers over 7 hectares – this work should be completed in time for the ‘early’ 2026 vintage…

The château – which dates from the 1100s – now sports 37 rooms and suites, a spa, a swimming pool (a must-have for some visitors) and ‘almost’ two restaurants; the ‘gastronomic’ restaurant will open soon, and the bistro is already in full swing. Paint me impressed !!

Infos here…

Comments for this entry

Last week in the Côtes + Seismic gossip !!

By billn on February 01, 2026 #producer update#the market#travels in burgundy 2026#vines for sale

Commaraine sheep - PommardMy first week of tasting – after publishing my 137 domaine visits the week before.

No surprise – not a lot of sunshine – but it was good to rejuvenate the taste buds before the coming 3 weeks of visits in Chablis 😉

But a big surprise was the monumental gossip that I picked up – and from 2 different sources.

I will choose to remain a little cryptic – as I already lost the possibility to visit some domaines due to publishing a previous gossip – despite it turning out to be true 🙂 However:

It’s been about 7-8 years since the last, quite similar rumour. There’s a very famous domaine in St.Romain, whose wines precious few people have ever tasted. It seems that the movers and shakers of a famous leather-goods seller have recently been ever-present at the domaine. If you are on my wavelength, then you will know that St.Romain will not be the only production entity to be affected.

Of course, it was going to happen sooner, rather than later, and potential purchasers are few and far between…

Comments for this entry

Changes at de Courcel

By billn on January 27, 2026 #producer update

de-courcel

I learned this only yesterday – so forgive me if it’s old news for you – but it seems that there are significant developments at Domaine de Courcel in Pommard.

After 29 years of working together (since the 1996 vintage), Domaine de Courcel has parted ways with Yves Confuron. They have a new team in place and are in the process ‘of changing everything‘ – from the height of their trelissing and, and, and…

As I understand it, Yves did the elevage of the 2023s and the 2024s but not the bottling. The last ‘full’ vintage that he prepared was 2022. For the record, Yves’ 2023s are still in barrel at the Confuron-Cotetidot domaine in Vosne.

I’ll try to get an appointment to taste the de Courcel 2024s, but of course, these changes will only slowly be reflected by the wines…

Comments for this entry

The changes at Louis Latour…

By billn on December 26, 2022 #producer update

The news is 2-weeks old but still worth noting here.

Following the death of Louis-Fabrice Latour (right) during this year’s harvest, the news regarding succession was shared with the workforce in Beaune on Friday 9th December and then officially disseminated outside of their organisation the following week – while I was actually at the domaine to taste.

It’s a cosmetic thing, but one ‘rule’ of succession will no longer be followed – that the name of the head of Louis Latour actually being Louis. Louis-Fabrice took over as head of the company in 1999 from his father, Louis – as it was for many generations. With the leadership of the group now passing to the brother of Louis-Fabrice – Florent Latour – we can see that times and needs have changed. Florent is the new Chairman of the Management Board and he will assume operational control of the company – visually, and from many angles, Florent shows remarkable similarities to his brother.

Born and raised in Beaune, Florent holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and was working in the technology industry in the US, where he lived with his wife and children. Both internal and external communication majors on a significant part of Florent’s new role being the preparation of the next generation to take on the operational management of the company. Fingers are pointing to another ‘rule’ of succession changing – not only may Florent’s replacement (also) not have the name Louis – they may also not be a man! 😉

Comments for this entry

getting bigger; comte liger-belair’s echézeaux…

By billn on April 27, 2020 #producer update

Comte-Liger-Belair-Echezeaux

I note that in 2020, Louis-Michel Liger-Belair has a little more Echézeaux to play with. I asked him for a few details, but at the moment he doesn’t want to say much more than “Plots in ‘Cruots ou vigne blanche,’ ‘Champs Traversins’ and the brand new parcel in ‘Echezeaux du dessus’”

More interrogations at a later date 😉

Comments for this entry

all change, domaine chanzy…

By billn on February 25, 2020 #producer update

It’s already 5 years since I profiled the last version of Domaine Chanzy in Bouzeron and time has flown by for this, seemingly, restless domaine of over 30 hectares!

As you may remember, in 2012-2013 Jean Baptiste Jessiaume and his father became responsible for this domaine – just across the road from Domaine de Villaine in Bouzeron. What I hadn’t appreciated at the time was that they had been ‘hired by the owners’ to take responsibility for the winemaking, they were not the actual owners. Jean Baptiste said at the time was that they had bought the domaine as part of a consortium – seemingly then, they must have been minor partners. Subsequently, father and son Jessiaume left Chanzy after the 2019 harvest ‘to concentrate on setting up their own trading company‘ according to the current Chanzy team.

Since January, Max Blondelle is the new cellar-master and winemaker at Domain Chanzy, joining after working for nearly 15 years with Jean Pierre Confuron at Domaine Chanson. It will be too early to taste any major change of approach, but I anyway plan to visit Max in November when looking at 2019s. This has been a great source of well-made wine from the Côte Chalonnais, though also rather expensive for their appellations. The labels have had a workover – amongst other things, not surprisingly, removing the name of JB Jessiaume, above…

Comments for this entry

on the move – Boris Champy…

By billn on February 05, 2020 #producer update#the market

Hot off the press: Boris Champy, after leaving Clos du Lambrays, has just announced that he’s taking over the domaine of Didier Montchovet in the Hautes Côtes.

Apparently Didier, one of the first in biodynamics in Burgundy, had no succession at his domaine and together with Boris, they decided that this was the best way to continue the domaine. Hopefully more info later in the year – first-hand.

Domaine Montchovet, Key facts
– Created in 1984 by Didier Montchovet
– 12 ha mostly in Nantoux, Beaune and Pommard
– Certified Organic and Biodynamic viticulture (Ecocert/Demeter)
– 4 employees
– Website: www.montchovet.fr

Comments for this entry

tart > devauges < lambrays

By billn on February 27, 2019 #producer update#the market

Well, that didn’t take long, did it(?)

I alluded to it yesterday, and the same evening, LVMH (via Reuters) and La Revue du Vin de France, chose to make it official within 10 minutes of each-other:

Jacques Devauges has left the Clos de Tart, to take a short walk through the village, to take over from Boris Champy as the new head at Domaine des Lambrays – paint me shocked!

Comments for this entry

domaine leflaive – info in your inbox

By billn on November 20, 2017 #producer update

Lots of websites allow you to subscribe to an email-list with future info shipped direct to your inbox – though few actually deliver much (this site included :)) – but Leflaive keep sending stuff. You can get it too, if interested, in which case you should be prompted if you go here. (No affiliation!)

Comments for this entry

Burgundy Report

Burgundy Report

Big Red Diary overview

Burgundy Reports overview

Latest reports:

Translate »

You are using an outdated browser. Please update your browser to view this website correctly: https://browsehappy.com/;