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Presentation of the Estate
The Michel Juillot Estate, occupying an acreage of 32.5 ha, offers a large selection of great Burgundy wines from the Côte Chalonnaise wine region of which 2/3 in the Mercurey Appellation zone. That is to say, 10 ha of Mercurey red wines, 3 ha of Mercurey white wines and 8.5 ha of Premiers Crus, both red and white wines.
On the winefarm one can also find acclaimed wines of the Regional Appellation categories such as Burgundy white, red and rosé, a 1.3 ha plot of Rully white wine and the even more famous Côte de Beaune Appellations-Aloxe-Corton, Corton-Charlemagne and Corton-Perrières.
The wineyard yields approximately 180,000 bottles a year. Half of this production is sold in France, while the other half is distributed abroad.
The Wines of the Estate
Red, White and Rosé Burgundy wines are the pillars to a rich and varied production of notable success, which highlights the virtues of the terroir as well as the noble grape varieties of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
By their fruitiness and their elegance, the Mercurey red and white wines assert the character and the exceptional value of the vineyard. Some cuvées, amongst the famous “climats” granted to the Appelation- such as the Clos des Barrault or the Clos Tonnerre- reveal not only a rich expressiveness, but also a truly remarkable aging potential.
One must not forget three of the Côte de Beaune wines that enhance the already magnificent production of the Estate: the Aloxe-Corton red wine followed by the majestic duo of two Grands Crus, the Corton-Perrières red wine and the Corton-Charlemagne white wine.
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From Grapes to a Glass of Wine
Letting the terroir express itself
Great care is taken in the choice of the wine varieties of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Likewise, the vines also benefit from special care. “We care for all the plots in the same way because our added value is the terroir”, Laurent affirms. “The difference between a Grand Cru, a Premier Cru, a village wine and a generic wine comes from the terroir, the land, the exposition to the sun and the environment.”
The upkeep of the Estate demands the utmost attention: the vines are treated at soil level and numerous tests are done on the leaves, petiole and soil. For eight years now, the Estate has made use of two weather stations allowing meteorological surveillance at all times and justifying intervention to the production at just the right time.
“It is by day-to-day surveillance that we are able to minimize unexpected climatic changes so as to bring our less favorable years to those of great vintage wines”, Laurent adds.
The harvesting ritual
The end of the month of September is marked by a popular event known as the harvest. It is the crowning point of the whole year. Between the hustling and bustling of the harvesters in the rows, the comings and goings of the agricultural machines and the immediate attention given to the freshly picked grapes, everyone works together. This camaraderie hardly takes anything away from the serious teamwork that makes everything from the shearing to the arrival of the grapes at the press run smoothly. It is with the greatest respect of tradition that the harvesting is done by hand, thus allowing a rigorous sorting of the soundest grapes so as to send only the ripest and soundest bunches to the cuverie.
Winemaking
Once the harvest has been completed, the grape juice is transformed into wine through the process of alcoholic fermentation. At this point the pumping-over and treading ensue at a rate of between one to three times a day with a view to obtaining the best possible extraction of color and tannins. It can be said that winemaking is a classical tradition composed of maceration, fermentation and post-fermentative maceration that varies depending on the vintages and necessitating acute temperature control.
Maturing
The process of maturing wine is also steeped in tradition. The wines are kept in oak barrels, which hail from the fortresses of Tronçais, Darney and Jupille, for between twelve and eighteen months. To this day, the cuverie contains more than 600 barrels having a lifespan of no more than five years so the tannic exchanges between wine and wood can be preserved. The proportion of new barrels varies depending on the terroir. It ranges between 10% and 35%. When it comes to the maturing of the wine in the barrels, the Estate reaps the benefits of Michel’s experimentation dating as far back as 1978. According to him, “Maturing is adapted to the conditions of the vintage wines and the particularities of the terroirs. All In all, we prefer wood from the Vosges region in France. This wood best suits our Mercurey wines.”
During wine tasting sessions, that is to say those privileged moments in time when wine reveals all of its aromas, the date of racking is established. As for bottling, it takes place twelve months after the harvesting of white wines and eighteen months after the harvesting of red wines. Bottling occurs in the best technical conditions thanks to highly efficient modern equipment. After bottling occurs, the bottles are stored in the cellars of the property where the aging of the wine, which had begun in the vats, is slowly pursued. Here the bottles wait to be labeled and packaged before being sent sometimes thousands of kilometers away. |
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The Origins of Mercurey
mercury is recognized as the God of Commerce and Travelers in Roman mythology.
mercurey is a commune in the Saone and Loire department of France. 1, 562 people live in this area. It is particularly known for wine production.
(Information taken from Le Petit Larousse illustré, 2002.)
 Mercurey, a town with 650 ha of vineyards, located in the Côte Chalonnaise wine region, is the most important viticultural community in Burgundy. Its name is directly derived from that of the Roman God, Mercury. According to historical documents, a temple was built in Mercurey in this Roman God’s honor; in fact, the commune was on the Via Agrippa, a route linking Chalon sur Saone to Autun that was taken by merchants and travelers in antiquity. As the traffic increased on this road, the village of Mercurey came to be.
Today Mercurey is home to some 1,500 people and famous worldwide thanks to the international reputation of its wines. The Mercurey Appellation, which celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2003, is the first Burgundy wine to have determined its zone of Appellation; 85% is devoted to red wines (Pinot Noir) and 15% to white wines (Chardonnay).
Access to BIVB map.
The Juillot Family
Laurent inherits the family patrimony and a secular tradition
 Should you ask for Laurent, his father will never be far away, and vice-versa; the present-day upkeep of the Estate involves as much one as the other. To understand the changes the Estate has undergone over time, it is necessary to go back several decades in time, to 1963 to be precise, when Michel took to the business. Being an energetic self-taught entrepreneur, Michel decided to devote himself entirely to the vine. As the successor to his father Louis, he went from renting plantations to buying others so as to increase the farming surface of the Estate by sixfold in twenty years’ time. His curiosity led him to introduce numerous wine and farming trials to improve again and again the quality of the wine production. Since 1978 he has counted on the assistance of partners such as Professor Feuillat, an onologist and Director of the University of Dijon, or the Institut de la Vigne et Vin for the testing of the oak barrels; this partnership has led to the discovery of the equipment that goes best with the wines of the Estate.
As for Laurent, after having receiving his French Baccalauréat and subsequently working in different vineyards both in France and abroad, he decided to travel the wine world extensively. This trip would notably bring him to California, Australia and New Zealand; in New Zealand he even came to experience six wine harvests in one year. Since the end of the 1990’s, Laurent has taken over the management of the wine farm.
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A family-owned company of worlwide renown
The estate produces on average about 180, 000 bottles per year. The entire production is bottled. Just as many bottles are sold in France to individual buyers and restaurants as abroad. Bottles are exported to 26 countries of which some unexpected destinations such as Burkina Faso and Senegal. Nevertheless, the most important export markets remain North America, Europe and Asia.
These days, the Estate is commercializing vintage wines from 2000 to 2005, flasks that have reached final maturity, magnums and large size bottles (Jeroboams and Nebuchadnezzars) from 1991 to 2003.
“We always have three harvests in stock”, Laurent explains. “This is the way we work and it allows us to better supply our markets when, let’s say, a vintage comes out, like that of 2003, for example. It is my policy and I can uphold it because the Estate has existed for four generations now. Louis, my grandfather, was one of the first to commercialize bottles of wine in the period between World War I and II and my father has not only grown, but also expanded our clientele. Our oldest clients have, in fact, been with us for four generations.”
The Estate’s progress has gone hand in hand with continual commercial pragmatism. “In choosing the Corton-Charlemagne wine, we knew exactly who we would be selling to. Each time we increased the size of the Estate, we had commercial prospects in mind”, Michel announces. Today the Michel Julliot Estate wines are distributed to all five continents. This situation brings Laurent back to his “initiatory journey”. “I traveled to find out what was being done elsewhere and to see if we were on the right track. I came home reassured! My trip gave me the experience and the confidence that are needed when having to make decisions faced with a fermenting vat of wine. Laurent has very precise ideas, indeed, “We don’t proceed in the same way when we are making a Burgundy wine, a Premier Cru or a Grand Cru. With the Burgundy, I privilege fruit, freshness and easy wine. The others are determined by the terroir.“ He concludes by saying, “Whatever the vintage may be, the Estate wines have the potential to be kept tensome years, which is related to their commercialization. What the clients are looking for are pleasing wines bringing out the best of the red fruits with certain maturity. As for the white wines, it’s their mineral edge that allows them to have a good aging capacity.”
Perspectives
“Nothing should ever be taken for granted”, Laurent summarizes as he continues to watch scrupulously over the quality and pursue adamantly the valorization of his terroir. “Today we identify the natural yeast that is present in the grapes for different terroirs,” he explains. The first results were interesting; they showed three different yeast groups, but it is far too early to make conclusions. Research must be continued for a few more years. All the plots from Burgundy to Grand Crus are under study. “If we want a Clos des Barraults to be different from a Clos Tonnerre, we must not disturb the natural yeasts”, he believes.
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