2023 | Domaine Matrot

I have known this domain since my time working at the venerable Seagram Château & Estates wine company in New York in the 1980s and 1990s. Thierry Matrot was a pensive, ambitious Burgundian with a long family history (his grandfather came to Meursault after World War I). Now retired, Thierry and his wife Pascale have passed the company on to their two girls, Adele and Elsa who have been working at the domain since 2010 and 2011 respectively and who are polyvalent, sharing the work load of running a venerable domain although, when pushed, Adèle explains that she runs the commercial side of the business while Elsa deals with the personnel and work responsibilities. Since 2016, they grow and make the wines together on the large, 24-hectare estate.

Like many producers of white Burgundies, Matrot also fell into the premox trap in the 1980s of subjecting the musts to too much oxygen during winemaking with the goal of making the wines richer and fuller as the fashion of that time dictated. The error of this technique which showed up several years after the wines were bottled plus the challenges of climate change have led the Matrots to alter their wine philosophy quite seriously. Today the wines are harvested in cagettes, pigeage has been abandoned for gentle pumping over, the musts are protected against oxygen, only old oak barrels are used for aging the white wines and even the corks have been changed to Diam. Farmed organically since 2000, the Matrot white wines have a fresh and precise style with good refinement and length. The red wines, which are fully destemmed, have fresh structure and can age well. Our selection

The wines of Burgundy are divided up into 100 different appellations from the most generic, Burgundy appellation to the smallest Grand Cru of La Romanée.

The soils of Burgundy are distinguished by a patchwork quilt of different soils on bedrock of ancient limestone. Many centuries ago, the sea covered this area and many fossils and shells can be found in the soils. Winemaking here goes back to the Romans in the First Century but it was the Catholic church with its abbeys and monasteries that first began to exploit the riches of the Burgundy soils, especially the large hillsides running north to south, which they called the golden slope or the “Côte d’Or”. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic code changed Burgundy forever, giving the land back to the people and then making sure that family land was divided equally amongst the heirs. Burgundy producers with their small vineyard holdings, pride themselves on their attachment to the land: many practice sustainable, organic or biodynamic viticulture.

The two main grape varieties are Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

There are four categories of Burgundy wines:

Regional Appellations: These account for over half the wine made in Burgundy. A wine labeled Bourgogne Villages or Bourgogne Appellation Communale is an AOC produced in one of the six Burgundy regions such as Côtes de Nuits or in one of the three sub regions such as Mâcon. To these can be added 14 geographical names such as Bourgogne-hautes-côtes-de-nuits.

Communal Appellations: There are 41 of these, also known as village appellations such as Chablis or Volnay. They represent one third of all Burgundy wine.

Premiers Crus: These account for 10% of production and must have the communal name, followed by the climat which has Premier Cru status such as Vosne Romanée Premier Cru “Les Beaux Monts” or Chambolle Musigny Premier Cru “Les Cras”. There are 562 premier cru climats.

Grands Crus: These account for a tiny 1.5% of all Burgundy. There are 34 AOC grand cru climats in the Côte d’Or such as Clos de Vougeot or Montrachet and one grand cru in the Yonne which groups together the seven Chablis Grand cru climats such as Chablis Grand Cru “Blanchots” or Chablis Grand Cru “Valmur”. Our selection