Benoît Ente

In the village of Puligny-Montrachet, in the heart of the Côte de Beaune, Domaine Benoît Ente manages a small, scattered estate covering 6 hectares, comprising 23 plots. He is the younger brother of Arnaud Ente, one of Burgundy’s most renowned Chardonnay producers, but Benoît is gradually, step by step, quietly making a name for himself.

History

In 1990, Benoît and his aunt inherited the vineyards from their grandparents. For the next seven years, the entire harvest was sold to a wine merchant. In 1997, Benoît began bottling his own wines, starting with around 3 hectares. In 2013, his aunt retired, and he took over her half of the estate, doubling the size of the domaine to its current size, around 6 hectares, comprising 23 separate plots.

Vineyards

The vineyards stretch across the lower slopes of Puligny-Montrachet, in the village itself and on the hills above. The oldest plot, planted in 1943, lies just below the Premier Cru zone. La Truffière Premier Cru is the estate’s largest and most historic plot, covering 1 hectare. It was acquired in stages by Benoît’s grandparents and planted perpendicular to the natural slope on a layered limestone base at an altitude of between 316 and 326 metres. En La Richarde is a plot within Les Folatières, comprising just 4% of this Premier Cru appellation, situated on a dense limestone base, which in places comes to the surface, at an altitude of between 277 and 294 metres.

The plot in Chassagne-Montrachet, bordering the Puligny-Montrachet appellation, was replanted by Benoît in 2005 from Pinot Noir to Chardonnay.

Terroir

Puligny-Montrachet is situated in the Côte de Beaune, where Chardonnay grows on limestone and clay soils, the depth and stoniness of which vary from one plot to another. Vineyards in the village generally have deeper soils and produce wines with a richer, fuller texture.

The Premier Cru vineyards, situated higher up the slope, have finer soils over harder bedrock, which lends the wines greater tension and minerality. Benoît’s vineyards span this entire spectrum.

Grapes

The focus is on Chardonnay. A small amount of Aligoté is grown in the Puligny-Montrachet area, and the range is complemented by a single Pinot Noir cuvée, Mathilde Bourgogne Rouge.

Winemaking

All grapes are harvested by hand into small baskets. In the cellar, each plot is vinified separately. The wines are aged for 18 months: the first 12 months partly in barrels and partly in vats, followed by 6 months in stainless steel tanks. No chemical fertilisers or herbicides are used in the vineyard; the vines are protected using exclusively organic methods.

The use of new oak is kept to a minimum. All wines are bottled without filtration. For the Nexe Flore cuvée, made from the 1943 vintage, Benoît uses only glass containers throughout the ageing process.

Wines

The range opens with two Bourgogne Blancs, one of which is the single-vineyard Golden Jubilee, planted in 1963. Alongside these are the Bourgogne Aligoté and Mathilde Bourgogne Rouge.

The Puligny-Montrachet ‘village’ wine is a blend from seven plots with an average vine age of 50 years. Nexe Flore is a more limited cuvée made from the 1943 vintage, vinified exclusively in glass containers.

Chassagne-Montrachet is produced from grapes from a plot converted to Pinot Noir, bordering Puligny.

The two Premier Crus, La Truffière and En La Richarde, represent the pinnacle of the range; each is bottled and released as a single vineyard.