Domaine Guilbert Gillet Savigny-Lès-Beaune Aux Champs des Pruniers 2023 750ml

Until 2022 these 1950s vines went into Benjamin Guilbert's village Savigny; the large 2023 crop let him bottle Aux Champs des Pruniers on its own for the first time.

Aux Champs des Pruniers is a lieu-dit of clay and sand on the Savigny-lès-Beaune side of the Dijon–Beaune road, planted in the 1950s. According to the Japanese importer Finesse, the parcel had been blended into the estate's Savigny-lès-Beaune Rouge through the 2022 vintage; 2023 is its first release as a single-parcel wine. Guilbert told the Shizuoka merchant Matsukiya that 2023 was a warm year with a very hot summer, so concentrated that many vines carried only four or five bunches, with somewhat lower acidity and higher alcohol than 2022. He kept new oak to a minimum that year to keep the tannins fine and the acidity in play, and describes 2022 as the vintage built for long ageing and 2023 as the more approachable one. The crop was also large enough for every Savigny parcel to be vinified separately, which is what made this bottling possible.

The cellar work follows the house pattern: full destemming, fermentation in stainless steel, eighteen months in used barrels only with remontage rather than racking, then bottling unfined and unfiltered. Bottling is done by hand straight from the cask through a two-spout tap the domaine calls a chèvre, about 900 bottles a day against the 20,000 a machine line could manage, and each bottle carries a number and a wax seal. Guilbert, born in 1991 and trained at Lambrays, de Montille, Guigal, Trimbach and Haut-Brion, started from nothing in March 2020 with a small cellar and 0.2 ha; by 2023 he farmed 3.6 ha organically, ploughed by horse and by hand. "I produce mostly parcellaire wines, to reveal the terroir of each area I farm," he says, naming Jacky Truchot of Morey-Saint-Denis as his mentor.

In the glass

Finesse describes the wine as having old-vine concentration and fleshy fruit on a firm frame, energetic without losing its poise. A September 2026 note on the French forum LPV found a very pure cherry nose, big power with a touch of warmth, a broad tannic structure that dries the finish, and a wine that gained a great deal with air.

When to open

The LPV taster judged it still in early youth, to be held, and found it demanded a lot of air; if opening now, our suggestion is a decant of one to two hours.

At the table

Our suggestion: roast guinea fowl, duck breast with cherries, or a plate of Époisses and Cîteaux cheeses.

Quick facts

Provenance

Sourced from the Japanese importer.

Sources: Domaine Guilbert-Gillet (label); Finesse (Japanese importer); Wine Cellar Matsukiya (quoting Finesse, and its May 2026 estate visit); LPV (French wine forum); Veritas Wines