Page 17 - Les Nouvelles de Boisset 49 - EN
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NOUVELLES BURGUNDY
DE BOISSET
1ST SEMESTER
2025
A gentle
handover
Now that its talented viniculturist of 22 years’ standing is From the spring of 2024 until
getting ready to hand over the reins, we take a look at this
discreet Maison at the heart of Meursault. the start of 2026, Nicolas
Burnez and Justine Pillot are
An exceptional site
The magnificent vaulted cellar that the public can visit serving as a double act.
during high season (March to November) formerly belonged
to Hospices de Beaune. Known as the ‘Caves de l’Hôpital’
(‘Hospital Cellars’), they were constructed in the 16th
century by Jehan de Massol, a member of the Burgundian
parliament. They offer perfect conditions for the 650 barrels
covering 22 appellations ranging from Côte Mâconnaise
to the Golden Triangle, equivalent to a 40-hectare estate.
Good grapes make good wines
Close partnerships with some thirty winemakers affect
the choice of material, plots, yield control, support during
the growth cycle, and of course the harvests.
Artisan production
Winemaking takes place in a vat house with 57 compart-
mentalised stainless steel vats ranging from 4 to 60 hectolitres
in size, making a total capacity of 2,000 hectolitres. Grapes
are sorted by hand before being pressed in a pneumatic
press, then the juice is settled in a vat for 48 hours before
being transferred into barrels for alcoholic and malolactic The young œnologist, a Burgundian native, joined Nicolas to bottle
fermentation. Depending on the vintage, fermentation may the 2023 vintage and worked with him to prepare for the 2024
also be started in vats and the wine moved to barrels winemaking and cellaring process. Justine and Nicolas share
halfway through the alcoholic fermentation process. That a winemaking philosophy of limiting intervention to the close
is the art of the viniculturist! monitoring of how the wine is developing, as well as a taste for
Then, during the 8 to 13 months of maturation in barrels, fresh, taut wines with delicate oak.
little or no lees stirring is used so as to preserve the wines’ These two figures are getting to know each other, exchanging
natural rectitude. ideas and enriching this handover period, to benefit the house’s
fine white wines by perpetuating a style renowned for its elegance.
www.ropiteau.com Ropiteau Frères 17