Guilbert Gillet SAVIGNY-LÈS-BEAUNE 1ER CRU LES PEUILLETS ROUGE 750ml 2021
The winery is located near National Route 74, which connects Dijon and Beaune, and started making wine with the 2020 vintage. The owner, Benjamin Gilbert, was born in 1991. After completing his studies, he honed his winemaking skills working at Domaine de Lambrays, Domaine de Montille, E. Guigal, Trimbach, and Château Haut Brion. He also interacted with Jacky Truchot, a winemaker from Morey-Saint-Denis, and learned a lot about viticulture and winemaking from him, modeling his own wine style after Jacky Truchot.
In March 2020, Benjamin had the opportunity to purchase a small winery and a 0.2-hectare vineyard in Savigny-lès-Beaune, allowing him to start making a small amount of domaine wine. He also began making négociant wine by purchasing grapes from premier cru vineyards in Aloxe-Corton, Pommard, and Morey-Saint-Denis. In 2021 and 2022, he gradually acquired more vineyards, and as of 2023, he owns a total of 3.6 hectares. Unlike other domaines that have inherited vineyards and wineries over generations, Benjamin started from scratch in 2020, a time when land and property prices were higher. This has resulted in higher wine prices, but he aims to produce wines that justify the cost.
The vineyards are cultivated organically, avoiding large tractors to reduce soil stress, instead using horses and manual labor. Grapes are carefully handled with double sorting after harvest. For white wines, fermentation occurs in stainless steel tanks, followed by 18 months of aging in old barrels with light bâtonnage. Red wines are 100% destemmed, fermented in stainless steel tanks, and aged for 18 months in old barrels, primarily using remontage. They are bottled unfiltered and unfined. Bottling is done manually, using a traditional method that attaches a split faucet directly to the barrel, capable of bottling about 900 bottles per day, rather than the more common machine method which can bottle about 20,000 bottles per day. Although this traditional method takes much more time and effort, Benjamin is committed to practicing old-fashioned winemaking with minimal intervention.