Domaine Jean Tardy

Victor Tardy established this domaine just after the Second World War, when he began farming various plots of land under the métayage system, whereby he farmed the land but didn’t actually own it and paid rent on it by giving up a proportion of the wines he made from it. Previously he had been working for the Camuzet estate but jumped at the chance to do his own thing when Etienne Camuzet offered him this opportunity.

Twenty years later, Victor’s son, Jean, took over the domaine and managed to extend the agreement with the Camuzet family to include some 1ers and Grands Crus. In turn, Jean’s son, Guillaume, joined his father at the domaine as the new millenium dawned, having gained some valuable experience working at various wineries abroad. He assumed complete control a couple of years later in 2003, but then had to give back some vineyards to the Camuzet family in 2007, when Jean-Nicolas Méo returned to the family property and wanted to make his own wines. However, Guillaume did not mope around feeling sorry for himself. Instead he gradually built the domaine back up, buying vineyards when the opportunities arose.

Today, he farms around six hectares, including recent additions in the Hautes-Côtes and Fixin. Guillaume’s progress as a vigneron has been relentless rather than instant which is key if one is looking for sustainable quality.

He works his vineyards hard and enjoys it, though one couldn’t help but feel for him when he spoke of a recent rainstorm during 2023 when he had literally just finished treating the vines as the heavens opened and washed away all his hardwork. Who said the life of a winemaker is all glamour and paulées. In time for this new vintage Guillaume treated himself to a new table de tri, although it remained fairly redundant until the 2023s were harvested when it really earned its keep.

The domaine is blessed with lots of old vines which allows Guillaume to be quite gentle in his extraction, the grapes willingly giving up their intense juice and matière. Everything in the cellar is currently destemmed and the amount of new oak is varied depending up on the cuvée. 2023 is the third year the vineyards have been worked organically with certification in mind, meaning the domaine will be certified organic from 2024 onwards. He has done a lot of work with compost and he can totally see the difference as the vineyards have ‘really come back to life’.