Jean-Claude Boisset

Updated Sep 2022

As a young man of 18 Jean-Claude Boisset started trading in a few wines. Three years later he bought his first piece of vineyard land, Gevrey-Chambertin Les Evocelles,  though it needed planting and clearing. These vines today form part of Domaine de la Vougeraie. Meanwhile the merchant side of the business kept growing at an astonishing pace, to the extent that in 1985 Maison Jean-Claude Boisset became the first Burgundy négociant to be listed on the stock exchange. There have been forays into wine businesses in other parts of the world, notably California and Canada, with son Jean-Charles Boisset and daughter Nathalie Bergès-Boisset increasingly at the helm.

Over the decades Boisset has taken over a host of other Burgundian businesses which have failed to be as competitive as the new kid on the block. Various of these acquisitions brought with them vineyard holdings which were amalgamated in 1999 with the Boisset family vineyards. Up to that point they had been known as Domaine Claudine Deschamps, based in Premeaux just south of Nuits-St- Georges. The new domaine was christened Domaine de la Vougeraie, described below.

Wines under the Jean-Claude Boisset négociant label used to be dismissed as being of modest quality, suited to large-scale and price-conscious distribution, but a change in philosophy and the appointment of Grégory Patriat as winemaker in 2002 have brought these wines into the mainstream of high-quality products. This has been followed by the building of a no-expenses-spared winery in Nuits-St-Georges, the roof being covered in earth and planted up with Chasselas vines of different colours.

The vineyards in the Boisset empire go to the Domaine de la Vougeraie. Under the Jean-Claude Boisset label Grégory Patriat makes around 40 different négociant wines each year, of which two-thirds are red. Some stems are included if the plot allows it. They are not included in the lighter wines but for the remainder 50% are used. The reds are vinified without sulphur until after the malolactic fermentation. Chassin is the favoured barrel cooper for the red wines, a mix of Chassin and Rousseau for the whites.

Boisset-owned companiesFoundedLocationTaken over
Charles Vienot1735Nuits1982
Pierre Ponnelle1875Beaune1982
Thomas Bassot1850Nuits1982
Charles Gruber1949Nuits1983
Lionel J Bruck1807Nuits1983
P de Marcilly1849Nuits1986
Morin1822Nuits1987
Bouchard Ainé1750Beaune1992
E Delaunay1893Nuits1992
Jaffelin1816Beaune1992
F Chauvenet1853Nuits1993
Charles de Fère1980Nuits1994
Chevalier1920Nuits1994
Ropiteau Frères1848Meursault1994
Cellier des Samsons1984Beaujolais1996
Louis Violland1910Beaune1996
J Moreau1814Chablis1997
Louis Bouillot1877Nuits1997
L’Héritier Guyot1845Nuits1997
Mommessin1865Beaujolais1997
Thorin1843Beaujolais1997
Rodet1875Chalonnais2009
Vincent GirardinMeursault2011
Alex Gambal1997Beaune2019