Bachelet Monnot

In January 2005, after years of travelling France and the rest of the world gaining vital wine-making experience two budding young vignerons, brothers Marc and Alexandre Bachelet, set up this Domaine that spans 10 hectares over the Maranges, Santenay and Puligny-Montrachet communes. With a burning desire to work with nature to make the finest possible wines, Marc and Alexandre adopt a very natural, labour-intensive approach to wine-making. Soils are ploughed, vine health carefully monitored, herbicides are forbidden and strict de-budding is carried out to limit yields, whilst all grapes are hand picked at optimum ripeness. This Domaine is a rapidly rising star. 50% new oak is employed for Grand Crus whilst mush less is used for the rest of the range which, and along with using a mixture of larger-sized barrels alongside the traditional barriques, has been instrumental in eradicating oak impact on the flavour profile of the wines. The red Maranges is produced using a small proprortion of whole bunches. Form Bourgogne to Batard these are some of Burgundy's most brilliant wines from two of its most exciting young winemakers.

2017 Vintage

The Bachelet brothers noted a “superb maturity of fruit in 2017” continuing “we harvested early because ripening was going quickly and we wanted to keep brightness in the wines.” Picking started for whites on the 28th August and for Pinots a few days later. The grapes were ripe and healthy so they continued their policy of using whole bunches for fermentation, this year around 20%. With slightly earlier picking and a little more aeration during vinification, the Bachelets are succeeding in their aim to get more delicate and red-orientated fruit qualities in their reds. For the Chardonnays, the berries were small and with little juice, so had a lot of dry extract. So healthy was the fruit that they did not hesitate to use plenty of lees during ageing. Marc Bachelet boldly and, in our view quite rightly, asserts “I would place 2017, for whites, as high as 2014 for us, probably better. Since then our wines have gained in concentration and precision.” A stunning set of reds and whites, a milestone vintage for Bachelet-Monnot, that firmly puts them amongst the Côte de Beaune’s greatest producers.

2018 Vintage

It is a measure of how great this domaine has become that in such a challenging and heterogenous vintage as 2018, they have produced a consistently brilliant range in both red and white wines. The young Bachelet brothers seem restless in their pursuit of quality, raising the bar every year. This proved to be one of our most enjoyable 2018 tastings. Extreme vigilance was required in 2018, according to Marc Bachelet. They started pre-analysis of the Chardonnay on the 16th August and continued to do this every three days, noting very rapid changes in potential alcohol degrees each time. They began harvest as early as they could, as soon as berries had reached ripeness, on 28th August. The red harvest followed a little later, on the 3rd September. The alcohol degrees for Chardonnay reached a maximum of 13.2%, so the wines have plenty of verve to them as well as ripe fruit flavours. The Bachelets have continued with methods that have brought them such success with their whites over the last few vintages - no debourbage (settling of the must), no batonnage, using slightly larger barrels of 350 litres allowing for a bigger wine to wood ratio, and putting the wines into steel tank for their final six months of their 18 month élévage. All of this means they produce very stable, pure and vivid wines of intensity without recourse for too excessive sulphur usage. The reds get finer and purer with every passing year. Ranging from 13 to 14 degrees of alcohol and with 20% whole-bunch fermentation employed to give sapidity and a floral aspect to the wine, these wines are generous but controlled, expressive and full of fruit yet with plenty of savoury and mineral complexity that make them so moreish. A stellar vintage here.

2019 Vintage

Marc Bachelet is “delighted” by 2019, “a very great vintage for reds and whites. A little like the 2017 vintage but more concentrated.” The brothers Bachelet are at the top of their game, this was without doubt one of the best ranges we tasted. Adapting and improving every year, they are restless in the search for quality – white winemaking includes no debourbage for whites, ageing in large and thick oak barrels (very little new) to minimise oak impact on the flavour of the wine. For Pinot Noir whole bunches are increasingly used, up to a point and adapted to terroir and vintage. As Marc noted “alcohol degrees and acidities were high, the bunches were ripe and really healthy, if ever there was a year to do whole bunch 2019 was it.” The reds, on average, were fermented with 30% whole bunches. The whites are tremendously intense, fleshy and ripe but sizzling with precision and freshness, remaining, as Marc puts it “very terroir.” Reds are juicy and svelte, offering generous, smooth ripe fruit, as well as plenty of savoury character. These are some of the Pinot bargains of the vintage, whilst the whites are some of the very best you will find.

2020 Vintage

The quality and consistency of the Bachelet brothers’ wines never ceases to amaze us. They have produced another set of dazzling wines, in both colours, in 2020. The whites have always impressed for their energy and terroir intensity; they rank among the Côte’s best wines. It is the progression of their reds, however, which has been most striking – these are wines that offer a sensuality, precision and deftness well over and above their appellations. To attain an average of 13.2 degrees alcohol, as well as proper ripeness, is quite some achievement in the warm, dry 2020 season. Long, gentle pressings with light settling of the must and ageing in larger barrels, to reduce oak impact, have been instrumental in enhancing the quality of the whites over the last few years; whilst for the reds whole bunches proportions have gradually increased and extractions have become ever gentler. Adaptations specific to 2020 included harvesting in the mornings, where possible, or transporting the grapes in refrigerated vans, and increasing whole bunch proportions to 50% for some of the reds. One of the great ranges of 2020.

2021 Vintage

To be honest, this is one of my favourite vintages for reds” Marc Bachelet said with a smile. “The style is brilliant, with complexity but not too much density. We have the purity and expression of Pinot Noir with great terroir typicity.” We would concur, and we’d also suggest that the whites are typically excellent here too. This is one of the most consistently brilliant Domaines we work with. It was of course a tough growing season, but Marc remarked that after the 14th of August when they carried out their last treatment, the weather was “great”. Temperatures were steady, not hot, and there was plenty of water in the soils to help the grapes on their way to ripeness. Vinification here is always considered and in ‘21 the boys chose to eschew whole cluster for the reds, carried out a relatively short maceration with no pigeage and minimal pumping over. “The fruit, when it arrived, just looked so fresh” Marc continued. “All we wanted to do was preserve the beauty of it.” As such, bottling for the reds will be carried out in December, a little earlier than normal. The whites, electric and precise, were vinified in the customary manner; full lees to barrel, minimal new oak and no bâtonnage. Maranges Blanc in particular deserves a shout out, being purer and finer than we’ve ever seen before.

2022 Vintage

“We’re not chasing an “ephemeral” style in our wines, we want to make classical Burgundy” stated Marc Bachelet with confident precision as we tasted his 2022s. “The whites this year honestly remind me a bit of 2020, but with more approachability and freshness”. The Bachelet brothers, Marc and Alex, consistently produce one of the best overall ranges we taste, and after a decade of tweaks and experiments, have now settled into a very fine groove with both the way they farm their vineyards and the subsequent vinification of the grapes they grow. Ruthlessly focussed and clear-eyed about what they want to achieve, they have honed their winemaking techniques, fully engaged in key decisions such as: maturation vessels (predominantly 350L now), lees going to barrel; time in tank; sulphur usag; whole cluster, and extraction methods, on top of their stringent farming practices. Cold maceration stopped as of the 2020 vintage, Marc comparing it to fruits that have been refrigerated versus those eaten straight off the tree: “there’s more natural complexity this way”. The Maranges wines are an example of how an appellation can be lifted with a star domaine behind it. In Bachelet-Monnot’s hands the Fussière vineyard is one of the region’s gems, hidden in amongst a glittering range of wines.

2023 Vintage

The Bachelet brothers were another team who harvested from 6am to 1pm, bringing in as much cool fruit as possible before the day’s heat arrived in earnest. Here, it was a full harvest, but not more, Marc Bachelet suggesting that their organic farming contributed to smaller and more concentrated berries. It would certainly the explain the excellent sense of grip and control that so many of their wines display this year, in both colours. Once again, this is domaine that simply gets it all right, an unflagging source of excellent value and sheer drinking pleasure.