Domaine Bernard Moreau & Fils

Historical

The domaine was originally created by Marcel Moreau, grandfather of the current incumbents. His son Bernard developed domaine-bottling and the separation of the various premiers crus into individual cuvées. Run by sons Alexandre (in the cellar) and Benoît, the domaine expanded to nine hectares owned outright, plus a further five hectares farmed since 2005, becoming one of the very finest white Burgundy domaines of all. I wrote before that ‘these are clean-cut, polished, relatively modern wines with a healthy rather than distracting oak influence’ but they have developed gravitas since.

The latest news is that the domaine is being split between the brothers in 2021, with Alex remaining on site and Benoît developing his own winery. Details of how the vines will be shared are not yet available so the figures alongside do not reflect the change. Comments on the wines given below also reflect the previous status quo.

Viticulture & Vinification

While there have been no anti-rot or insecticide sprays used since 2013, the domaine is not fully organic.

The white grapes are lightly crushed before pressing, left to settle overnight, then fermented in wood (with maximum one-third new oak for the premiers crus, often less) usually without lees-stirring. The wines are racked out of barrel just before the harvest, with the premiers crus then being kept in tank until bottling the following March.

The reds are given a fairly short vinification with a proportion of whole bunches, first used in 2009.

Vineyards

The village Chassagne-Montrachet is blended together from several different plots, one-third coming from in and around Les Masures adjacent to Morgeots, the remainder from the Puligny border. This is a relatively powerful and extremely successful white Chassagne which benefits from some time in bottle. There is plenty of it, too: 100 barrels in 2018.

The best-known red is the Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Cardeuse a wine characterised by dense, dark fruit and sophisticated tannins. Alex Moreau has also been sourcing small volumes, often just enough for a barrel at a time, of grapes from interesting premiers crus in Volnay and Pommard.

NB: vineyard figures are from before Benoît Moreau took out his share.

White Wines

Red Wines