Maison Glandien

Berlin to Meursault, by way of New Zealand

Before settling in Meursault, he worked in Mullineux in South Africa, as well as in Felton Road, Burn Cottage and Sato Wines within New Zealand, Domaine de l'Horizon, and Pierre Overnoy within Jura, along with Philippe Bornard and Domaine de la Tournelle, as well as at Dard & Ribo in the northern part of Rhône. Most of this work took place between 2015 and 2017.

In 2018, he became known in Burgundy when he purchased Domaine Bernard van Berg, located on the edge of Meursault. Over the past 15 years, this small estate has quietly built a reputation for producing natural, minimally intervened wines by cultivating vines on a single stake using the à l'échalas method and producing only very small quantities of wine. The van Bergs sold the estate to Kuban, seeing his ownership not as a break but as a continuation of their natural, low-intervention vision. He changed the name to Les Jardins Vivants.

Maison Glandien was launched that same year, starting on a small scale with just a couple of barrels  made from grapes sourced outside the domaine. By 2020, it had established itself as a full-fledged small-scale négociant, primarily using grapes produced in the Côte Chalonnaise. In 2022, Kuban added a cuvée called L'Origine, made from domaine fruit, which blurred the line between the négociant and its own vineyard.

The vineyards

Les Jardins Vivants, which forms the core of this story, is located on a 1.5-hectare plot within Meursault, and part of it is planted on stakes rather than trained on wires. The harvest is limited to four bunches per vine. The figures for Glandien are somewhat fluid, and the vineyard area included in this project is generally known to be approximately 3.2 hectares.

Grapes are sourced from the Maison Glandien and Kuban farms, as well as from vineyards in the hills above the Côte Chalonnaise and Côte de Beaune. The named villages include Mercurey, Cheilly-lès-Maranges, Saint-Jean-de-Vaux, and Aluze, and grapes are also sourced from Mount Hautes-Côtes de Beaune. Beyond Burgundy, grapes are also sourced from Beaujolais, Alsace, and Jura.

None of these locations are particularly well-known, but that is precisely part of this wine's charm. The grape growers are not chosen at random but are carefully selected. Kuban purchases grapes only from suppliers he knows personally and whose cultivation methods he can vouch for, and the grapes are grown organically.

Clay, limestone and overlooked ground

The soil of Glandien red wine is simply described as clay and limestone, a typical combination for Burgundy. The Aligoté from the Côte Chalonnaise region, Pinot Noir, and the more distant Gamay from other regions have not gained as much fame as Meursault or Beaune, and their prices are lower.

These vineyards, tended in Kuban's style, give very low yields and are handled meticulously even after harvest. Harvesting at Les Jardins Vivants takes place on cool mornings, and by harvesting the vineyard in up to four successive passes, each grape is picked only when it has reached peak ripeness. Thanks to this rigorous selection process, the yield is kept below 10 hectoliters per hectare, well below the appellation's standard.

The grape varieties

Maison Glandien uses the classic Burgundy varieties, two others that are generally treated as secondary varieties:

• Pinot Noir
• Gamay (usually released as a blend with Pinot rather than bottled alone)
• Chardonnay
• Aligoté: Produced in the village of Chalonnaise

Both blended wines and single-varietal wines are released, and the blend composition varies depending on the characteristics of the vintage.

The winemaking

All processes involve natural fermentation carried out by the yeast naturally present on the grapes. The grapes are added whole, the maceration period is extended, and for red wines, frequent punch-downs are performed. No sulfur is added during aging, and only a very small amount, if any, is added at bottling.

Aging takes place in 228-liter used oak barrels, which are standard at Burgundian, and lasts from 12 to 24 months depending on the cuvée. No clarification or filtration is performed.

At Les Jardins Vivants, the winemaking process involves even less intervention: a pump-free vertical press, all processes driven by gravity, and no racking. This approach also serves as the benchmark for Glandien wines; while these wines use purchased grapes rather than estate-grown ones, they follow a similar aging process.

Vin de France is a label category that grants the winery freedom. Long maceration, unconventional blends that transcend regions and varieties, and extended oak aging, none of these processes are subject to regulation by the appellation committee.

The wines

The Maison Glandien's line is not structured according to a hierarchical system based on vineyard names. L'Ouverture is the entry-level line, available in three versions, L'Ouverture Blanc, L'Ouverture Rose, and L'Ouverture Rouge, while the red wines are based on Pinot Noir and Gamay.

Above these sits a series of cuvées, each with its own unique name. La Moiré is released in both white and red versions. The Les Écully, La Leux, La Cruci, and L'Estivage make up the red and white lineups, while the L'Origine, added in 2022, uses grapes from the Meursault estate. Kuban also bottles wine under the Les Jardins Vivants label, which is produced in very limited quantities as a separate project.

The composition of the cuvée varies depending on the availability of raw materials, and the blending ratios are not fixed from year to year.