Domaine Berthaut Gerbet

In the village of Fixin, on the northern edge of the Côte de Nuits, Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet has quietly become one of Burgundy’s most talked-about estates. The reason for this is Amélie Berthaut, who took over the winery in 2013 and has since transformed the respected but little-known family estate into a brand whose wines are snapped up by buyers all over the world as soon as they go on sale.

History

The Berthaut family has been growing grapes in Fixin for at least seven generations, with records dating back to the late 18th century. The estate’s history began with François Berthaut and a few hectares of land at 9 Rue Noisot in Fixin. He was succeeded by Firmin Berto, and then by Bernard Berto, who died young in 1913. Guy Berto managed the estate until 1974, when his sons Vincent and Denis took over. Both were qualified oenologists and expanded the estate by purchasing additional plots in the village of Fixin and in the Premier Cru appellations. A new ageing cellar on the Route des Grands Crus was built in 2005.

Amélie, Denis’s daughter from his marriage to Marie-André Gerbet of Domaine François Gerbet in Vosne-Romanée, returned to Fixin in 2013 after studying agronomy and oenology in Bordeaux, working at Domaine de la Tour du Bon in Bandol and taking part in the harvest at Dunn Vineyards in California. Her arrival led to the creation of Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet, which brought together all of the Berthaut vineyards with selected plots from the Gerbet estate. Her husband, Nicolas Foret, who trained at Jean-Louis Chave in the Rhône, Prieuré-Roch and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, works alongside her.

Vineyards

The estate covers 18 hectares in the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, Fixin, Gevrey-Chambertin, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot and Vosne-Romanée regions. The heart of the estate is Fixin, where the family has owned plots since the late 1700s and where Amélie cultivates five different plots.

In Fixin there are five Premier Cru plots: Hervelle, Arvelle, Clos du Chapitre, Clos de la Perrière and the monopole Clos Napoléon. In addition to Fixin, the estate has small plots in the premier cru villages of Gevrey-Chambertin Les Casetiers and Lavaux-Saint-Jacques, as well as in the premier cru village of Vosne-Romanée Les Petits Monts.

Grape varieties

90% of production consists of red wine made from Pinot Noir. The remaining 10% is white wine made from Chardonnay and Aligoté. No herbicides or pesticides are used in the vineyards.

Winemaking

In the cellar, the grapes undergo cold maceration for up to five days at a temperature of around 10°C. Fermentation begins naturally with indigenous yeasts in concrete vats. Malolactic fermentation takes place in barrels or large foudres. Ameli very rarely uses whole-bunch fermentation, preferring a gentle approach to extraction.

The wines are aged for one year in old barrels, then rest for two months in foudres before bottling. The use of new oak is kept to a minimum.

The wines

The range varies from entry-level Bourgogne Rouge and Aligoté wines to village-level wines from Fixin, Gevrey-Chambertin, Chambolle-Musigny and Vosne-Romanée, right up to Premier Crus.

The wines sell out immediately upon release, and the Fixin Premier Crus have received some of the most enthusiastic reviews of any estate in the northern part of the Côte de Nuits.