Chantrêves - 'Paris l'Hopital' - Pinot Noir - Hautes Côtes de Beaune, Burgundy, FR - 2021

2016 was the first vintage for this Bourgogne Rouge. It comes from Paris l’Hôpital (next to Maranges) from a parcel that had previously been blended into the Bourgogne Rouge. This is the only corner of the Côté d’Or where granite is exposed. The slope is very steep so the soil is prone to erosion. As a result, growers keep the cover crop all year around. It makes a very elegant and structured Haute Côte.

All of their reds are vinified, without compromise, with 100% whole cluster. They feel that when grapes are left whole and treated with minimal sulphur use (10 to 15 ppm) the energy of the fruit is most naturally transformed into wine. They prepare a wild yeast starter using the grapes of each parcel 2 to 3 days before the harvest. Once picked, the grapes are put into large wooden vats together with the starter to kick off fermentation. There is no temperature control during this time. There are also no mechanical pump-overs as they like to avoid pumping as much as possible. Punch downs are down only with feet and only until the end of cuvaison. Punch downs are done once a day but there will still be many un-crushed clusters when they press off. The fermentation will be finished either in a tank or sometimes in barrel. The malolactic fermentation, as the sulphur dose is minimum or none, happens naturally during the cuvaison or after the press in the barrels. Their wines without exception are aged in used oak barrels. There is hardly any new oak used. The wines will rest in oak barrels until just before the harvest of the following year and then assembled in stainless steel tanks. The wines spend 2 winters in the cellar before bottling.

Chanterêves is a husband and a wife team launched in 2010 by two oenologists, Tomoko Kuriyama and Guillaume Bott. They are so called ‘négociant-vinificateur’ meaning that they buy grapes from winegrowers and vinify them to make their own wines.

Born in Japan, Tomoko has been passionate about food and wine from a young age. Her maternal grandmother was a cooking teacher and had her own cooking show on a national television channel in Japan. Her father was always a fan of good Bordeaux and Burgundy so wine was very much on her radar from an early age. Tomoko's professional career began in Germany. She apprenticed under Paul Fürst, Peter Jakob Kühn, and Hermann Schmoranz of Weingut Georg Breuer, and obtained an engineering degree in oenology & viticulture from the Geisenheim University. Until the launch of Chanterêves she was the production manager at Weingut Altenkirch in Rheingau, specializing in Riesling and Pinot Noir. She moved to Burgundy in 2011.

Guillaume was born in Dijon and grew up in Beaune. Being a Burgundian, the passion for wine came naturally to him. When it came time to choose a path in school he chose the Lycée Viticole of Beaune. Guillaume's first job was as the right hand of Gérard Boudot of Domaine Etienne Sauzet in Puligny-Montrachet. During his seven years at Sauzet, Guillaume gained experienced in vinifying the great Chardonnay terroirs of Burgundy. In 2002, in order to expand his expertise to Pinot Noir, he moved to
Domaine Simon Bize et Fils
in Savigny-les-Beaune to assist Patrick Bize. Guillaume continues to work as the cellar master of Bize to this day.
Guillaume and Tomoko first met in 2005 when she came to Simon Bize as a harvest intern. Their passion for Burgundy and winemaking philosophies are so aligned that it was only a matter of time till they set out on their own.