Bastian Wolber
Most people who settle in Burgundy arrive with a plan. Bastian Wolber arrived here with a broken hand. He is German, born in Staufen im Breisgau, and his wine label, Laisse Tomber, operates as a négociant, purchasing grapes rather than cultivating large vineyards himself. The name roughly means let's just leave it be, a nod to the skateboarding accident that broke his hand and ended a planned stint with Ganevat in the Jura.
The bottled wines range from Bourgogne Blanc and Aligoté to Volnay, Pommard, and Santenay 1er Cru, and also includes red wines named after the rocks where the grapes grow, rather than the village names. The winemaking process involves whole-cluster fermentation, the use of wild yeast, aging in used oak barrels, and the omission of fining and filtration; the addition of sulfites is minimized or avoided entirely. Production volumes are extremely limited, and since Wolber's full-scale production began with the 2022 vintage, the wines tend to sell out quickly.
From the Mosel to the Jura, then Burgundy
Wolber entered the wine industry thanks to his younger brother, Christoph, who had worked at several well-known Burgundy estates. A visit to his younger brother sparked Bastian's interest in Côte d'Or and the adjacent Jura.
That's when his apprenticeship began. After harvesting with Rudolph Trossen in the Mosel and with Jean-Marc Dreyer in Alsace, he worked with Ganevat in the Jura. That stint ended prematurely when he broke his hand in a skateboarding accident.
So he returned to Germany, purchased organically grown grapes from both France and Germany, and made wine at Wasenhaus, the estate that his brother co-founded with Alexander Götze. Laisse Tomber roughly means let it fall, a name that wryly alludes to that accident and the abandoned Ganevat plan.
In other words, Laisse Tomber began as a German project. Although only small quantities of wine were produced in the three vintages prior to 2022, Wolber has been dedicated to the project since 2022, and operations are currently centered around Burgundy.
No estate, just parcels
For a young Burgundian who has not inherited a vineyard, it is more common to purchase grapes than to own a vineyard, and Bastian Wolber practices this on a very small scale. The fruit is grown organically but is not certified.
His Côte de Nuits Villages demonstrates just how meticulously the raw materials are sourced. It is divided into two plots, with a total area of 0.40 hectares, both of which were planted in the 1950s. Aux Vignottes is located directly across the road from Clos de la Maréchale and features high clay content and shallow topsoil. Aux Fauques is located in Comblanchien; it grows in soil with a higher limestone content and ripens about three days later than Vignottes.
Geographically, the range of origin is extensive. Wolber begins at Marsannay, at the northern end of the Côte de Nuits, and extends through Savigny-lès-Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses, Auxey-Duresses, Pommard, Volnay in the Côte de Beaune, and on to Mercurey.
The terroir
Several Laisse Tomber labels name a rock instead of an appellation. Pinot Noir sur Calcaire Blanc, Gamay sur Granit, a white called Blanc sur Schistes. Not a marketing conceit so much as an honest description of what is in the bottle, since these cuvées come from soils rather than from a single famous commune.
Within Côte de Nuits Villages the same logic applies at parcel level. Clay at Aux Vignottes pushes the wine towards a broader, Nuits-Saint-Georges style profile, while the higher limestone share at Aux Fauques and its later ripening pull in a different direction. Blending the two is the point.
Vine age helps. Plantings from the 1950s in the Côte de Nuits parcels mean smaller crops and deeper roots, which matters more in Burgundy's warm recent years than it used to.
Four grape varieties
Bastian Wolber is not limited to the two grape varieties that made Burgundy famous:
- Pinot Noir, which forms the backbone of red wines ranging from Marsannay to Santenay
- Chardonnay, used in Bourgogne Blanc bottled wines (including the Côte d'Or version)
- Gamay
- Aligoté: Another white grape variety from Burgundy, bottled as a single-varietal wine
Winemaking
The winemaking process at Wolber is carried out with great care, based on the principle of minimal intervention. In the case of Côte de Nuits Villages, the grapes are fermented 100% as whole clusters using natural yeasts for 10 to 14 days, followed by a semi-carbonic maceration (a fermentation process conducted in a partially oxygen-deprived environment without crushing the berries) in stainless steel or wooden tanks.
Extraction is intentionally kept to a minimum. Instead of pumping over, the cap is wetted using buckets, and the grapes are treaded two or three times toward the end of fermentation. That's all.
Pressing is done in a vertical press. Aging takes place in used oak barrels for 10 to 22 months to prevent the wine from becoming overly oaky, and the wine is bottled without fining or filtration. Since 2024, no sulfites have been added at all, though he allows for the addition of a small amount, less than 20 ppm, in exceptional cases.
The wines
This lineup is roughly divided into two categories. On one side are the classic products bearing the name Burgundy: Volnay Laisse Tomber, Laisse Tomber Pommard, Laisse Tomber Santenay 1er, Cru, Laisse Tomber Cote de Nuits Villages Rouge, and Cotes de Nuits Le Clos Magny.
On the other hand, there are cuvées that reflect soil characteristics and regional traits, and within this category, Wolber offers the freest expression. The Laisse Tomber Pinot Noir sur Calcaire Blanc, Laisse Tomber Gamay sur Granit, and Laisse Tomber Hautes Cote de Beaune Rouge belong to this category, as do the white wines Laisse Tomber Bourgogne Blanc and Laisse Tomber Bourgogne Blanc Cote d'Or.
In addition, Laisse Tomber produces Marsannay, Savigny-lès-Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses, Auxey-Duresses, Mercurey, and also bottles the red wines produced from Beaune 1er Cru Les Epenottes and Coteaux Bourguignons, as well as white wines produced from Bourgogne Aligoté and Côte de Nuits. Overall, production volumes are low, and the lineup varies from year to year depending on the grapes Wolber is able to source.
Frequently asked questions
What does Laisse Tomber mean?
It translates roughly as let it drop, or let it fall. Wolber picked it after the skateboard accident that ended his apprenticeship with Ganevat in the Jura and pushed him into making his own wine.
Is Bastian Wolber a domaine or a négociant?
Laisse Tomber is a négociant label, built on purchased grapes rather than a large owned estate. Where he does work with specific parcels, such as the two Côte de Nuits Villages plots, they are very small.
Is there a connection to Wasenhaus in Germany?
Yes. Wasenhaus is the Baden estate co-founded by his brother Christoph Wolber and Alexander Götze, and Bastian vinified his early Laisse Tomber wines there.
Are the wines organic and low-sulphur?
The grapes are organically farmed but not certified. Wines are unfined and unfiltered, and sulphur additions are minimal or, since 2024, left out entirely.
