Visit Domaine Bertrand Machard de Gramont – tasting the 2016s from cask

One of the highlights of my June 2017 tour to Burgundy was the visit to Domaine Bertrand Machard de Gramont – or should I say Domaine Betrand et Axelle Machard de Gramont.

I really like to visit this small estate located in the hills of Vergy and to taste these organic and elegant wines.

The year 2016 was a tough year for Axelle, but she kept on fighting for her organic certification and she not only maintained the AB certificate(Agriculture Biologique) – she also managed to produce some truly delightful wines – chapeau!.

A fine moment of this visit was a trip to her Aligote vineyard just next to l’Abbaye de Saint Vivant – above the village of Curtil-Vergy … a great experience – see the article her.

A bit of background on Domaine Bertrand Machard de Gramont

Domaine Bertrand Machard de Gramont is a relatively small estate originating from Nuits-Saint-Georges. The estate has 6 ha in total located mainly in the Nuits-Saint-Georges appellation – but also with plots in Vosne-Romanée and Vergy.

The estate is related to the Machard de Gramont estate in Premeaux and the Chantal Lescure estate in Nuits-Saint-Georges.

The estate was established in 1983 by Bertrand Machard de Gramont, when the family estate was split in three parts. Bertrand until then worked the family estate after a stay at Domaine Vogüé in Chambolle-Musigny presumably working under Alain Roumier the old régisseur at Vogüé.

Axelle Machard de Gramont returned to Burgundy to take on the vigneron challenge in 2004 – and is now running the estate – with support from her father.

I really admire the work Axelle is doing – making some significant wines from some special terroirs created by her father.

Domaine Bertrand Machard de Gramont – The wines

The wines are very pure and terroir driven wines, and the do have a organic touch to the fruit. They do however also have a dignified or even slightly regal quality – these are not your typical local wines from the Côte – but rather more refined and precise in their expression.

Somehow Axelle seme to have taken a dosage of Paris refinement and delicacy with her, when she left the city to make wines in the remote hills above Nuits-Saint-Georges and Vosne-Romanée.

While I like the 2015s here – I do somehow think the style of 2016 goes better with some of the Nuits-Saint-Georges terroirs – hence I do have a personal preference for the 2016s. That being said perhaps the point scores in some cases are higher in 2015 – but nevertheless the 2016s seems the more enjoyable to me.

Tasting Notes for this producer

• Domaine Bertrand Machard de Gramont, Vosne-Romanée 2015 July 23, 2017
• Domaine Bertrand Machard de Gramont, Nuits-St-Georges Aux Allots 2015 July 23, 2017
• Domaine Bertrand Machard de Gramont, Nuits-St-Georges Les Vallerots 2015 July 23, 2017
• Domaine Bertrand Machard de Gramont, Nuits-St-Georges Les Terrasses de Vallerots 2015 July 23, 2017
• Domaine Bertrand Machard de Gramont, Bourgogne Grands Chaillots 2015 July 23, 2017
• Domaine Bertrand Machard de Gramont, Aligote 2015 July 23, 2017

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