Domaine Denis Mortet

Arnaud Mortet’s grandfather, Charles, began the family domaine back in 1956, after purchasing his first hectare of vines, although, at the time, he had little interest in being a vigneron himself and rented out both that initial, and subsequent purchases, to other estates. In 1978 his young son, Denis, who was still in his very early twenties, came to work at the domaine and was joined shortly afterwards by his brother, Thierry.

The two of them began bottling in the early 1980s and began exporting the wines shortly after. Throughout the ‘80s, they built up the domaine to 9 hectares in total, which consisted mostly of village level parcels from different parts of the commune. The two brothers worked together until Charles’ retirement in 1991, whereafter they both decided to go their own way and set up eponymous domaines with their respective inheritances of 4.5 hectares.

Working alongside his wife, Laurence, Denis quickly grew both the size of the domaine and his own impressive reputation. In 1993, they acquired what has subsequently become the domaine’s signature Cru, the enviable Lavaux St Jacques, as part of an exciting 4 hectare purchase from Domaine Guyot that almost doubled their holdings in one fell swoop. A small, but treasured plot of the mighty Chambertin Grand Cru followed only 6 years later, just in time to welcome their son, Arnaud, to the domaine when still in his late teens.

In a short space of time, Denis’ reputation as a perfectionist who loved his vineyards spread worldwide and his wines gained an almost fanatical following. They were not shrinking violets, but they were incredibly intense and there were signs that nuance and delicatesse were becoming ever more prevalent as Denis developed his style. Sadly, we were not to see what might have been, but, having succeeded his father at an almost identical age to when his father first began working at the domaine, Arnaud has taken his inheritance to a remarkable place and the positive evolution continues to this day.

Arnaud’s devotion to his vines is clearly in his blood and his desire to spend as much time as possible amongst his now numerous parcels is intoxicatingly tangible. What is perhaps most exciting is that his best years as a winemaker are still ahead of him, having only turned 40 a couple of years ago. Over the past few years, extraction has become ever lighter, new oak influence ever more subtle and mineral intensity ever more stark. As the vineyards have aged, Arnaud wants them to express their personalities even more articulately than before, and his less interventionist approach gives them the freedom to do just that. He likes to keep some of his stems, often around 50%, but their influence is always positive and never intrusive.

We have been lucky enough to have been buying Arnaud’s wines for a few years now, and without wishing to be too cliched or schmaltzy about it, his own increasingly relaxed and assured sense of confidence seems to have manifested itself in his wines and they are a true delight. They have precision, energy, detail, nuance, complexity and, of course, depth.