Domaine Pierre & Jean Baptiste Lebreuil

The Lebreuil family estate in Savigny-les-Beaune dates back to 1935, when present winemaker Jean-Baptiste Lebreuil’s grandparents purchased two hectares of vines. Pierre, Jean-Baptiste’s father, enlarged the estate to seven hectares and acquired a bottling line to ensure that he would be able to bottle the majority of his production. After stages in Bordeaux and abroad, and a degree from the Lycee Viticole in Beaune, Jean-Baptiste joined his father in 1999. The Domaine became known officially as Pierre and J-B Lebreuil in 2001 and was further enlarged to its present size of 9.5 hectares, all based around Savigny-les-Beaune. This is a Domaine to watch!

Jean-Baptiste Lebreuil quickly made technical improvements in the cellars, installing new equipment to ensure perfect cellar hygiene (“primordial for the realization of great wines” he affirms). And in the vineyards, Lebreuil instituted stricter pruning to reduce yields and stopped the use of herbicides, replacing that practice with 5 plowings per year to remove grass and aerate the soils so as to encourage the roots to grow deeper. If the crop is deemed too large, Lebreuil green harvests at the time of veraison. In short, all measures are taken to ensure the harvesting of the finest quality fruit.

Jean-Baptiste Lebreuil aims to produce vividly fruity Savigny-les-Beaune wines with great finesse and soft tannins. Vinification and aging follow classic Burgundian practice as it is understood by today’s quality-oriented winemakers. The whites are pressed with a pneumatic pressoir and begin their alcoholic fermentation in temperature-controlled tanks. Fermentation is finished in casks, where the lees are stirred (battonage) every 15 days until the malolactic fermentation is completed. Bottling takes place in the late summer. The Pinot Noir grapes are transported to the winery in small plastic crates to protect the integrity of the fruit. After a full de-stemming, the grapes are given a cold maceration at 8 degrees centigrade with daily pumping over, to bring out the color and fruit aromas. The alcoholic fermentation lasts about 10 days, and very little press-wine is used. The wine is allowed to settle and clarify in the fermentation tanks and then it is transferred to barrels where it ages for 14-16 months.

The Savigny Les Beaune Rouge has concentrated dark cherry fruit in a very pure, elegant style. It comes from many parcels with differing characteristics, mostly on lower slopes at about 200 meters of altitude. Lebreuil blends these different origins to craft his Savigny Rouge in the supple and silky style he seeks. The Savigny Les Beaune Les Grands Liards, from a “lieu-dit” parcel of just over one-half a hectare in size. With 44 year old vines on the south-east facing slope just beneath the 1er Crus, the Grands Liards has more texture and grip than the AOC, with a darker shade of fruit and wonderful balance. Both of the villages Savigny wines are aged in oak casks that are 15% new; 30% one-year; 30% two-year; 25% three years old.