Domaine Chanson

Founded in 1750, Chanson is one of the five grand "shippers" of Burgundy's Côte d'Or-an estate steeped in centuries-old tradition and rich in viticultural history. As a négociant (winemaker and merchant) and a domaine (vineyard estate), Chanson has represented the best of Burgundy for more than 250 years, growing its own grapes, partnering with other growers, bottling, selling, and shipping its own wines.
Chanson's holdings comprise some of Burgundy's most coveted vineyards (over 38 hectares, seven in white, the rest in red), including 10 Premier Crus, one Grand Cru (Corton), and a rare monopole Premier Cru vineyard (where the entire vineyard is owned by a single grower), Clos des Fèves. Located in the heart of the Côte de Beaune (the historical center of Burgundy) and surrounded by some of the greatest vineyards in the world, Chanson can count French philosophe Voltaire, romantic poet Lamartine, and the Bonaparte family among its clients.

Its celebrated bastion, a 15th-century fortress first rented and then acquired in 1794 to cellar the wines, is an internationally celebrated icon of Burgundy (the largest of six bastions that form part of the wall surrounding the city of Beaune).

Burgundy is the most "parcelized" grape-growing area in the world. The 22,000 acres (roughly 8,900 hectares) of vineyards are divided among myriad growers, sometimes with a grower owning just a few rows in a given plot. This is due to the seizure and subsequent sale of the monastery-owned vineyards after the French revolution in 1789 and the equal division of inheritance among beneficiaries guaranteed under the Napoleonic code.

Chanson is one of the handful of domaines that remained intact following the redistribution of ownership in the 18th and early 19th centuries (Jadot, Drouhin, Bouchard Père, and Louis Latour are the other four members of this "most distinguished" club of shippers).

To visit Chanson is to travel back in time and experience the magic of the 1000-year-old tradition of winemaking. Chanson still vinifies and cellars its wines in the bastion as it has for over 200 years. The 10-meter thick walls of this ancient fortress make it ideal for winemaking. While the ground floor (the coolest) serves as a vinothèque or "vintage wine library" (Chanson boasts one of the greatest collections of vintage Burgundy in the world), vinification and cask-aging take place on the second and third floors.

"The temperature of the bastion never varies," explains Chanson general manager Gilles de Courcel. "It is ideal for cold maceration of the bunches. In the springtime, we might open one of the cellar doors to allow the warm air in. We never accelerate malolactic fermentation. We allow it to occur spontaneously and naturally." Minimal intervention is the guiding philosophy today at Chanson. "We use only the best cuvées and we never hurry the process," says De Courcel. "This is how we maintain the freshness, purity, and fragrance of the wines."

The Chanson estate produces over a quarter of its own fruit requirements. The other grapes are sourced from growers selected according to their commitment to quality in alignment with Chanson’s quality Charter.

Individual plot selection produces fruit which also remains separate through the fermentation and ageing processes.
The soil is ploughed to encourage the vines to extend their roots more deeply and therefore better express the typicity of the Terroir. All the grapes are hand-picked at optimum maturity.

Over the course of 200 years, the Chanson family consolidated a remarkable holding in Burgundy (the last plot of the family's monopole vineyard, Clos des Fèves, was purchased in 1968).When the Société Jacques Bollinger purchased Chanson in 1999, it recognized the estate's enormous but unexploited potential. With ownership in 10 of Beaune's Premier Crus, Chanson represented a centuries-old tradition of world-class winemaking and the estate itself-with its landmark 15th-century bastion still used as a cellar-offered all the necessary elements to make superb wines.
When the Société Jacques Bollinger purchased Chanson in 1999, it recognized the estate's enormous but unexploited potential. With ownership in 10 of Beaune's Premier Crus, Chanson represented a centuries-old tradition of world-class winemaking and the estate itself-with its landmark 15th-century bastion still used as a cellar-offered all the necessary elements to make superb wines.

Bollinger appointed a family friend and industry veteran, Burgundian Gilles de Courcel, as the new general manager and brought in winemaker Jean-Pierre Confuron, son of famed Burgundian winemaker Jean-Jacques "Jacky" Confuron and an accomplished enologist in his own right.

"The first step," explains Confuron, "was to make sure that the vineyards were all plowed properly." In Burgundy, the roots of the vines must reach the subsoil in order for the terroir to express itself using the grape as its vehicle-a fundamental tenet of Burgundian winemaking. Confuron purchased state-of-the-art plowing equipment, but adds that in some cases, "we began using horses to plow where tractors couldn't fit so that the vines in every corner of the vineyards could grow deep enough in the soil." He also eliminated machine harvesters and implemented handpicking.

"The most important change we made," Confuron emphasizes, "is that we now limit yields to a maximum of 35 hl per ha." Chanson achieves this through aggressive and vigilant pruning in the vineyard, "with a maximum of five to six bunches per vine."

Next, the estate acquired two new sorting tables and hired a specialized team for selection of the fruit. "There are now 10 people per sorting table at harvest time," says De Courcel. "This way we can ensure that only the best grapes are used for vinification."

De Courcel and Confuron also purchased new vats to vinify each plot individually and implemented temperature-controlled maceration with "as many whole bunches as possible, stems and all." This ensured that ideal sugar and acidity levels were obtained without losing the "freshness" and "purity" of the fruit. Gentle, extended pigeage (pushing down of the caps) is key to the Chanson philosophy: "Sometimes we spend two to three weeks pushing down the caps," says De Courcel. "This optimizes extraction and obtains the rich aromas in the wine."

Lastly, Chanson established new partnerships with the best growers in Burgundy to source fruit and must for vinification in the winery's cellars. These include plots in Puligny-Montrachet and Clos de Vougeot among many other illustrious vineyards.

"One might say that our predecessors [at Chanson] had grown a bit lazy," adds De Courcel. "Today, we never hurry alcoholic or malolactic fermentation." Indeed, malolactic fermentation begins naturally, only when temperatures begin to rise in spring. "We keep the wine on its lees as long as possible. This is the way to ensure the freshness, purity, and aroma of the wine and to achieve the true expression of the Burgundian terroir."