Dom. de Montille
Les Taillepieds Premier Cru
Volnay 2002

The producer

Although dating back pre-Revolution, the Volnay-based estate, named de Montille, was formed in 1863 with substantial holdings of famous vineyards the length of the Cote d’Or. Over the decades vineyards were sold off so Hubert de Montille inherited barely three hectares of – luckily - the best vineyards of Volnay and a little Pommard Rugiens in 1947. Hubert was passionate about his vineyards adding parcels when they became available. He also commenced bottling his own wines, and wines made in a fashion that he wanted – terroir-driven and individual at that time.

His son Etienne has driven the estate since 2001 adopting biodynamics and a cellar regime designed to add silk and sexiness to already wonderful wines. Now the estate has 35 hectares including, since 2005, a piece in Clos de Vougeot and another in Vosne-Romanee Grand Cru contender Les Malconsorts, neighbouring La Tache. The Chateau de Puligny-Montrachet was purchased in 2012 and the renovated cellars are now used by the estate.  In Puligny-Montrachet, De Montille’s Premier Cru vineyards include Le Cailleret, Les Folatieres, Chalumeaux and La Garenne.

De Montille’s vineyards are a rollcall of the finest of the Cote de Beaune. In Volnay de Montille’s Premier Cru holdings are in Brouillards, Carelle, Champans, Mitans, and Taillepieds.

The wine

With 1.51 hectares, de Montille is the largest landowner in Taillepieds. Taillepieds is situated high up on one of the steepest slopes in Volnay and the soil has a high proportion of active limestone interspersed with clay particles and gravel.

Volnay is de Montille’s stronghold and where, arguably, they make their most stunning wines, including Taillepieds, which has an incredible floral and strawberry perfume and complexity. Biodynamic farming is used throughout, and wines are made in a traditional way in the cellar, with up to 24 months ageing in small oak barrels, of which around 35% are new.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.