Hello Guys,
I’ve been mainly a silent reader here, but let me try to change that.
For the last few year I’ve been working with my wife on the family estate (Domaine Guillemot-Michel, which as been cited a couple time on the forum) and with the quarantine here I have a little more time to do what I’ve been postponing for years, one thing being refreshing and translating our website in English (website that didn’t existed just a few years ago so that’s already that…).
At the same time, I’ve been posting some info about the estate in a less “corporate” style on a French wine forum Ive been part of for many years and I thought that you might enjoy these texts.
I’ve read the FAQ/Rules, didn’t quite sure I understood everything about the BersekerBusiness and the forum policy about those ITB but If I’m trespassing here, fell free to tell me and remove this thread.
As you might have guessed, I’ not a native speaker so please forgive me for potential mistakes (and fell free to point them as I might reuse part of the texts).
First of all, the history of the Estate:
Domaine Guillemot-Michel is a 6.5 ha (16acres) family vineyard located in “Quintaine”, between the villages of Viré and Clessé, in the heart of the Viré-Clessé appellation, in southern Burgundy.
In 1982, after studying viticulture and oenology (BTS in Mâcon then DNO in Montpellier) my in-laws, Pierrette Michel and Marc Guillemot returned to help Pierrette’s sick father who could no longer manage his vines alone (an all too common story). Back then, the grapes were delivered to the local coop’ the great grandfather helped creating. After his first spraying, poisoned by the chemicals, Marc came home, puked and decided to no longer use, I quote, “these crap”. The estate went organic. Followed a few disagreements with the neighbors and especially with the cooperative, which they left in 1985, bottling their first vintage under the name “Pierrette and Marc Guillemot-Michel, Quintaine”. The “Quintaine” cuvée will remain the only cuvée produced on the estate for 30 years.
While Pierrette and Marc had to find money to buy winemaking material (tanks, etc.), the 1984 vintage was never paid by the coop which stated “sue us, you’ll get the money in 10 years”
Fortunately enough, educated winemakers were rare in Burgundy at that time (don’t start me with “has it changed?”) an they started consulting and carrying out wine analyses for colleagues. Marc also works for a filtration service provider and some wine was sold bulk to the “Negoce”.
Today with 4 trained winemakers here, we continue to carry out 100% of our analyses ourselves, except for one export-compulsory certified-lab
Fortunately, the estate was quickly spotted and appreciated, in France (two stars in the Hachette guide for the first vintage) and abroad (namely the US, funny story, in 1985 when the first vintage was still growing on the vines, one day, coming back from the vineyard, they found American importers business cards under their door. These guys had heard that a young couple was leaving the coop and they wanted to be first in line. I can pretty much still see that here in France, when I discover a new estate I’ve never heard of in France they are already imported in Japan, US, etc. always cracks me up.)
After a few years of organic cultivation, they were still dissatisfied with the classic “a disease, a symptom, a molecule” tryptic and were looking for something different. However, everyone they meet was trying to sell a product, or a ready made solution. They were feeling dispossessed of a more traditional peasant approach. They found what they were looking for with Biodynamics. After several meetings, notably with Alex Podolinsky and Nicolas Joly, Pierrette and Marc turned the vineyard Biodynamic during the 1991 vintage (Demeter certification from 1992 and Biodyvin since 2018). They were seduced by the holistic vision, the non-commercial approach (here is what we do, you can do it too, yourself, we don’t need you to buy anything) and convinced by the changes they saw in the vineyard and in the wines.
This is Champ-rond, the largest block of the estate, 2,7ha (6,5 acres)
Over the years, a few purchases and exchanges of vines allow ed Pierrette and Marc to regroup some blocks and go from the initial 5.5ha to the current 6.5ha divided in 7 plots. In 2012, their daughter Sophie (my wife) returned to the estate after here viticulture and winemaking studies in Montpellier. She continues the work of her parents while bringing some new things: phytotherapy in the vineyard, distillation, and the production of an ancestral method sparkling called “Une Bulle” (one bubble). In 2017, I too officially joined the team and brought my own ideas: two micro-cuvées, a Gin, and some more project for the futureI hope I’ll talk about here.
Left to right Pierrette, Sophie, Marc and myself (Gautier)