Cecile Tremblay

Rising star Cécile Tremblay, Henri Jayer’s grand-niece, took the reins of her family domaine in 2003, working a total of three hectares of the family’s six hectares. As with all top growers the attention to detail here is in the vineyards. Cécile tends her vines with the utmost care and respect for terroir and the environment, practicing organic and biodynamic farming. In her own words "the grape bunches are my English roses, the vineyards my garden." To ensure low yields (between 25 and 35 hl/ha depending on the vintage) pruning is short and excess buds are removed. The wines undergo a cold prefermentation maceration and are then fermented either with no, some or all of the stalks depending on the wine and the vintage. There is the minimum of intervention here with ageing taking place in oak barrel (20 to 75 % new wood depending on the wine) for 15 to 18 months. These wines are a beautiful marriage of vivid, individual terroir characteristics and silky sensuality.

2017 Vintage

“Millesime festive!” is how Cecile sums 2017 up, underlining how joy-filled the wines are. They remind her of 2014 for their silky textures, adding “these are pure pleasure, they are so easy to enjoy now but they have the balance to age.” It was a good healthy, crop here too, not that large quantities are anything ever associated with this tiny domaine. The fruit was in rude health when picked and the bunches were ripe so plenty of whole bunches were used for fermentation, between 40 to 80% depending on the cuvée. Glittering, glossy and yet soulful this is an outstanding set of 2017s from Cecile Tremblay.”

2018 Vintage

“I have never seen anything like it” was Cecile Tremblay’s only way to sum 2018 up, who made her first vintage in 2003. Never has the harvest been so quick (beginning on the 4th September and lasting three days), yet so ripe and so healthy. Grapes were bursting with goodness and full of sugar, ranging from 13.5 to 14.5 degrees alcohol. The arch-adaptor, Cecile, likes to flex her winemaking style depending on vintage and terroir. In 2018 she decided to use a lot less whole bunch than she ordinarily would, limiting herself to just 10% and only for certain cuvées. Extractions were also very gentle indeed, because the grapes had such natural tannin and flavour. “I made one pigeage” she commented with a wry smile, "to get things going," thereafter maceration between wine and grapes skins was just a matter of infusion. Cecile continues to raise the bar with her wines, these are as sensual and silky as ever, yet continue a recent trend of more lift and slightly more of a red fruit profile, something we noticed appearing as of 2016. A completely seductive and beguiling range.

2019 Vintage

Cécile is thrilled with 2019, describing them as “sensual and fresh, very Bourgogne despite the drought and heat.” She noted that the analyses were “perfect” and calls it “the vintage of my life.” Such a shame that quantities get smaller and smaller.Yields barely crept above 25hl/ha at this tiny domaine. Whilst production methods are along the same lines as usual: some whole bunch ferment, as little sulphur usage as possible, and élevage without racking where possible, as ever Cecile aims to adapt to vineyard and vintage.This year she used fewer whole bunches than usual. She believes reducing this, and the naturally low levels of malic but good levels of tartaric acid in the fruit, have meant that acids overall remained stable and that the wines are vibrant as a result. Cecile continues to take quality to ever higher levels, making wines of enhanced expression and nuance. If only there was more wine available!

2020 Vintage

Cécile was on excellent form for our visit in November – about to begin a necessary enlargement of the cellar, giving her space to accommodate a sizable amount of vineyard that’s coming back to the domaine next year. Exciting times, so long as she can get the works finished by August 2022! Beyond the promise of new holdings, the 2020s that we tasted were cause for great excitement – wines of shimmering fruit and immaculate poise that each express their site with great clarity. Harvest began on the 21st August, then paused before resuming again on the 25th August. Finding pHs slightly higher than usual, Cécile used a little less whole bunch fermentation in 2020, so as to preserve acidity. She continues her quest for barrel perfection by utilising just one cooper, but oak from a variety of forests, and while she likes to complete elevage without racking where possible, the approach here is very much lead by the individual wine in question.The wines in this cellar seem to become more refined and detailed with every passing vintage.A top collection of 2020s.

2021 Vintage

Well, she’s done it again. It was cold and rainy when we left Cecile’s newly enlarged cellars but all we felt was the sheer luminosity of this range of brilliant Pinots.These are finely wrought wines full of energy and flow that caress and energise the palate in equal measure. Normally an early picker, Cecile waited until the 26th of September to start her harvest, happy to wait for what she saw as full maturity.The eagle eyed will notice no Beaux Monts or Rouge de Dessus in 2021; their tiny volumes mean that both parcels have been blended into a single, spellbinding Vosne 1er cru.“Apart from the small volumes this was a normal vintage to vinify” Cecile remarked. “I’m adding less and less sulphur at the start of the winemaking process, which means my malos tend to go straight through”. Élevage will be comme d’habitude. Responding to the vintage, most the range have been vinified with no whole bunches, the exceptions being a tiny percentage in Chapelle Chambertin and Feusselottes and the normal 100% for aux Echanges. A stunning range.

2023 Vintage

Cecile Tremblay was another of the band of vignerons who chose to start harvest extremely early each morning due to the hot September conditions. Never one to commentate overly on the vintage, content to let the wines speak for themselves (something of which they are quite capable!), she did concede that it had been a busy harvest Chez Tremblay and that had let her to double the number of workers in the winery, sorting and processing the incoming grapes. If it feels like the needle is stuck then so be it, but the truth is that Cecile has made another wonderful range of wines. Each distinct, each with the sense of style and poise that characterises Tremblay. This is very much Pinot Noir to write home about.