Domaine Bruno Clavelier

Gifted rugby player Bruno Clavelier took over from his maternal grandfather, Joseph Brosson in the late 1980s, expanding the winery buildings and cellars as he intended to bottle all the wines himself. He rents the vines from the family and now farms them biodynamically, with organic certification.   There are no hard and fast rules for vinification except to avoid too much intervention. The grapes are sorted first by the picking team and then on a table de tri. Most are destalked though between 5 and 20% of whole bunches may be included depending on the vintage and the vineyard. Vinification is more an infusion than a maceration process, with no punching down and not much pumping over.   In the cellar there is not much new oak used – 15 to 20% for the village wines, a quarter to a third for the premiers crus. In elevage as much as in vinification Clavelier does not want to impose the hand of the vigneron. A keen student of the geology of the vineyards, he is keen that each wine should display its terroir. Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director and author of the award-winning Inside Burgundy comprehensive handbook.