Domaine Bertrand Bachelet

Bertrand Bachelet created this domaine in 2011 after taking over from his father, Jean-Louis. Jean-Louis had taken on one third of his father’s domaine when he and his two brothers decided to divide it up between the three of them three years earlier. Since then, Bertrand has been a busy bee, acquiring more hectares, planting more vines and building himself a smart new cuverie on the edge of the village of Dezize-lès-Maranges.

He is a very engaging, hard-working young man with a real passion for what he does. He has his father close at hand when he needs a second opinion on something but, ultimately, he is his own man with plenty of ambition. Bertrand currently farms around 13 hectares but it is easy to believe that that number may increase over the coming years. He has a strong position in Maranges, but he has also recently increased his presence in Saint-Aubin and Chassagne, with several new plantings of Chardonnay in the former.

In terms of vinification, Bertrand works fairly traditionally. All the Pinot is fully destemmed, he still does a little pigeage, although less than he used to, and the wines generally receive around 25% new oak, though Bertrand is playing around with larger barrels for certain cuvées, where he wants the oak influence to be minimal.