Domaine Jean-Marc Pillot

Jean-Marc joined his father, Jean, at the estate in 1985. At that point it consisted of about 5 hectares and before Jean, Alphonse, Jean-Marc’s grandfather, had run things. When Jean-Marc became involved, the fruit of the domaine was being sold off to négociants, but gradually, having assumed autonomy of the domaine in 1991, he began to bottle wines under his own name. And then, in 1996, he established his own négociant business so he could increase his own production by buying fruit from well-trusted sources.

At the same time, he was slowly building up land holdings, so that now he farms about 12 hectares, plus a further five under the négoce label. To house all this wine, and with an intelligent son, Antonin, joining him just before Covid struck, he built a smart new cuverie close to his old one. It should allow Antonin to continue the progression of the domaine in the coming years.

Bucking the trend, about half the domaine is planted with Pinot Noir, a good proportion of which is old vines, although nothing gets close to the 110-year old vines of their little jewel called Clos St Marc, whose wines are as rare as they are great. I find these wines more and more compelling each year and Antonin certainly has an air about him that fills on with confidence for the future.