The wine comes from a gently sloping 0.36ha (under one acre) plot on the Chassagne side, just below Montrachet, with excellent exposure to the south and south-east. The grapes are hand-picked and sorted, then gently pressed and settled for 24-48 hours. Fermentation takes place naturally in barrels at cellar temperature (18°C) and maturation continues in underground cellars at 10-12°C. The wine ages on lees in 228-litre Tronçais and Allier oak, 80% new, for a total of 18 months. The final blend is made from barrels selected after the final racking. The wine is lightly filtered and bottled at the Domaine.
Caroline Lestimé has enhanced the reputation of this fine producer since taking over from her famous father, Jean Noel Gagnard, in 1989.
Jean Noel Gagnard handed his eponymous Domaine to his daughter Caroline Lestimé in 1989. She had studied business in Paris, before returning to the village to take over the reins of the family estate, and had to handle male chauvinism at its most rampant. Nonetheless, she has followed her own convictions, and enhanced (rather than diminished) the reputation of this fine producer. In the vineyard, she uses no fertilisers or herbicides, but has not taken hold of the biodynamic bible. - James Halliday
Their colour is gold flecked with emerald, darkening towards yellow with age. Their bouquet evokes butter and warm croissants, bracken, dried fruit, spices and honey. Body and bouquet are not separately distinguishable, so closely blended are structure and harmony into a single perfect whole. Unctuous and firm, dry and caressing, enveloped and profound, these wines combine every virtue in a firmly-established personality.
