Alix de Montille (Burgundy)(1)
By Bertrand Celce 2009-3-3 11:32:26
Alix de Montille in the vat houseMeursault, Côte de Beaune (Burgundy)
As the young generation of a family that took part in the Burgundy wine History for more than 400 years, Alix de Montille and her brother Etienne have taken the reins of their highly-respected family-estate, following the path of their father Hubert de Montille who took the job in 1947. The task 
would be enough for most people but Alix and Etienne opened a second front in 2003 with a Négoce business (Maison Deux Montille) to complement their experience with purchased grapes or must. We meet Alix in Meursault in the newly-acquired facilities in the middle of the village.This nondescript house [pic on right] built somewhere at the end of the 19th century hides a very spacious, recently-added vatroom, and much-older cellar galleries underneath, all of which having been used previously by Bouchard Père & Fils, a major player in Burgundy. That's where the wines of both Deux Montille Soeur Frère (the Négoce) and the 15-hectare Domaine de Montille (the family estate) are now vinified. The Family winery was based for the last 50 years in Volnay, a mere 3 kilometers north from here. In 2003, Alix wanted to start a Négoce activity dealing with white Burgundies because at the time the family estate made very few whites. The word Négoce must be taken of course here in its Burgundian meaning, that is, all the vinification process and elevage of the wines being handled by her and her brother, as well as some of the harvests. Her brother Etienne joined her Négoce venture and he dealed with the red-wines part.
The storage space being too tight in Volnay, they moved first to Beaune (in the facility now occupied by Philippe pacalet) and then here in Meursault, which was more convenient especially after the family estate bought (in 2005) an additional surface of 5 hectares in the Côtes-de-Nuits and the Côte-de-Beaune (Corton side).
Cellar-master Cyril Raveau - open wooden vats in the backgroundThis Meursault facility, which they first rented before buying it from Bouchard in 2006, looks spacious both on the vathouse side and in the cellars but Alix de Montille says that its storage limits may be soon reached. The huge vat room is lined with about 20 Grenier open wooden vats, piled on each other when they are not in use. At the start of her 
Négoce venture with purchased white-grapes in 2003, she made only some 40 casks of wine, a fraction of the present volume of 250 casks (60 000 bottles) made from the equivalent of 10 hectares of vineyards. As said above, they make also red wines and her brother Etienne overlooks their vinification and elevage. She doesn't want to grow more in terms of volume and she could even downsize a bit. These Négoce wines are made from 70% of purchased grapes and 30% of purchased must (juice of freshly-crushed grapes). Most of the purchased grapes are harvested by her pickers and a tiny fraction by the growers themselves. Speaking of the purchased must (30% of the total volume of purchases) most of it (something like 80%) is the result of the pressing and racking that Alix conducted herself in the growers' facilities. They vinify also the wines from the now 15-hectares of the Domaine de Montille, which was augmented in 2005 with 5 hectares of Côtes-de-Nuits and Côte-de-Beaune. Of the 15 hectares of the family estate, 3 hectares are planted with white grapes (Chardonnay of course).
At one point, Alix presents us to cellar-master Cyril Raveau (above and left). We already met Cyril when he was working in the Vignoble de flavigny in northern Burgundy. We happened to drop in Flavigny two days before this visit to buy a few bottles (my choice was their Auxerrois 2003 at about 7 Euro) and the lady there told us that Cyril was precisely working for Alix de Montille now...
From wineterroirs.com
