Burgundy remains one of the most exciting and alluring French appellations producing fine wine today. Whether it’s because of its 900 plus years of history or its exceptional terroir carefully married to primarily one red and one white grape variety, namely Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, no other wine region around the world has been able to truly match the profound expressions being produced in these small village appellations. Today, Burgundy and its top growers are arguably making the most sought after, ethereal and unrivalled fine wines in the world.
Jean-Yves Bizot is a Vosne Romanee based vigneron armed with a PhD in oenology and geology producing iconic wines that have certainly captured the imagination of connoisseurs and collectors around the globe in recent years. Originally owned by his grandfather, Domaine Bizot was, in essence, brought back to life in 1995 by Jean Yves when he took over the running of the winery. A passionate winemaker with a keen eye for history, Jean Yves is a big fan of the wines from the 1950s and 1960s but is less enamoured with the wines that Burgundy produced thereafter. Being one of the smaller domaines in Vosne Romanee at just 3.5 hectares, Jean Yves took over a winery that had been renting out most of its vineyards to other growers as his father was a full-time paediatrician at the hospital in Beaune and did not produce any wine himself.
The original domaine was, in the earlier days, almost eight hectares in size before some of the vineyards were passed on to successive generations, with several hectares going to Domaine Coudray-Bizot in Beaune and some to Domaine Naddef in Fixin. When Jean Yves took over the domaine in 1995, he immediately stopped using herbicides and also attempted to reduce the general use of sulphides, reverting to the lutte raisonnée or minimal intervention philosophy early on before progressing completely to organic wine growing in 2004. Nowadays, the domaine consist of mainly Pinot Noir with a small amount of Chardonnay planted in the Haut-Cotes de Nuits and in Flagey-Echezeaux, which is sold as simply Bourgogne Blanc.
In 2007, Jean-Yves acquired additional vineyards in Chenôve, in one of Dijon’s suburbs. Le Chapitre is a regional appellation site, squeezed in between high buildings in the middle of Chenôve whilst Clos du Roy, despite being located in the commune of Chenôve, is a village appellation Marsannay and is the northern continuation of the vineyards around the village of Marsannay. Compared with the lieux-dits sites considered for Premier Cru status in Marsannay, Le Chapitre is just a small 5.5 hectares in size owned by around ten growers including illustrious names like Sylvain Pataille, Laurent Fournier, and Domaine Gagey, Drouhin, among others.
Back in Vosne Romanee, Domaine Bizot produces several village appellation cuvees and the occasional Premier Cru red from declassified Echezeaux vines as well as his now highly famed Grand Cru Echezeaux red. Jean Yves doesn’t produce a Vosne Romanee Premier Cru every vintage, but when he does, it is normally sourced from an Echezeaux parcel called Les Treux, a site lower down the slope below Loächausses. The second of the two parcels in Echezeaux is a slightly larger site in Les Orveaux which is normally a later ripening plot, and in years when yields are low, Jean Yves will blend the sites into a single Echezeaux cuvee. Just behind the winery in Vosne Romanee is Les Jachees, one of the biggest parcels of the Bizot domaine at 0.63 hectares, which is a village appellation and Jean Yves is currently the only producer to bottle this site separately.
Jean Yves Bizot now produces undoubtedly some of the most highly coveted fine wines in Burgundy and I was very fortunate to meet up with Jean Yves recently at a bespoke dinner hosted by his UK importer, Wimbledon Wine Cellars. As I get so few opportunities to taste and write about Jean Yves’s incredible Domaine Bizot wines, I have tagged on a few extra previously unpublished tasting notes from a tasting dinner at Noble Rot. Nowadays, these wines are coveted for their extreme finesse and sumptuous depth, partly as a result of the whole bunch extraction process that the Domaine utilises, and every year, Bizot only produces between 9,000 and 10,000 bottles, making them incredibly difficult to purchase.
Domaine Bizot Bourgogne Blanc 2005, Burgundy, 13.5% Abv.
Yellow honied colour raised concerns, but in the glass, the aromatics are perfect for a 13 year old white. Impressively complex with layers of orange peel, apple skins, pithy pear and the most delicious gravelly, liquid minerality. Just to spice up the equation, the wine shows the most delicious struck match reduction on the finish. What a surprise. Delicious.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Echezeaux Grand Cru 2008, Burgundy, 12% Abv.
Showing some lovely foresty evolution, the aromatics are very expressive with graphite, smokey black cherry, earthy forest bramble berries with a delicious piquant, sappy, resinous black berry notes. Superbly fresh acids, beautiful sweet / sour berry notes, and a fine concentrated long finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Vosne Romanee 2005 Vieilles Vignes, Burgundy, 13% Abv.
Lovely dark broody, smokey, reductive nose with salty cassis, pithy black currant skins and an alluring salty black liquorice complexity. Sleek, quite mineral in orientation, piquant and fabulously intense, this is quite an intriguing Vosne Romanee that certainly punches above its village weight. (The last vintage of the Vieilles Vignes Vosne Romanee was in 2009 before the vineyard’s old vines were destroyed by frost.)
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Bourgogne Hautes-Cotes de Nuits Blanc 2018, Burgundy
Incredibly steely, saline aromatics great your first approach to the glass followed by a complex melange of lime cordial, lemon biscuits, grapefruit confit over subtle hints of struck flint reduction. But there is so much more on offer, as incrementally the wine unfurls revealing hints of honey suckle, passion fruit, Parma violets, perfumed lemon tea and purple rock candy. Wonderfully fleshy on the palate, this makes way for a complex smoky stony complexity with soft supple tangy acids, crunchy white peach, incredible lemon and lime fruit concentration overlayed by a pithy liquid minerality. A very regal expression from such a modest appellation. Simply stunning.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Vosne Romanee 2017, Burgundy
A beautifully plush signature Bizot nose with dusty chalky mineral sappy floral lapsang Souchong tea spice notes over earthy bramble berries, mulberry compote, black berry and peppermint crisp nuances. The palate is weightless yet intense, focusing the senses with its stony mineral pithy black fruits, black cherry reduction, black currant, pomegranate and delicately savoury mineral spice. An ethereal expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Marsannay Clos du Roy Rouge 2017, Burgundy
First vintage was produced in 2007. A most powerful Cuvee from Marsannay. A beautifully bold, plush opulent expression of Burgundy boasting perfumed violets, wild strawberries, burnt wood embers, graphite and red currant confit. Fabulously saline and bright on the palate with phenomenal concentration once again, tangy fresh acids, tart red cherry and cranberry pastille over pithy chalky mineral tannins. Really lovely intensity, flamboyance and depth with subtle power and focus. Will certainly improve with further time in bottle.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Vosne Romanee Les Jachees 2018, Burgundy
A powerful vintage but one that lacked a little acidic backbone in general, according to Jean Yves. Another individual expression full of Vosne spice, liquid chalk, dried Provençal herbs, garrigue, charcoal embers, raisined cranberries, and stewed strawberry fruits. The palate is super complex packed full of dusty chalk minerality, wet river stones, cherry and strawberry compote notes that melt into creamy mineral graphite tannins. A wine with such energy and fruit concentration, all assembled into a very special expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Bourgogne Le Chapitre Rouge 2016, Burgundy
From a plot in Marsannay. Huge frost in the Spring allowing only a two barrel production. One of the smallest vintages until the 2020s. Vines planted in 1954 but with several replantings since to replace dead vines. Initially very taut and tight with stony aromatics, the wine slowly opens its shoulders to show hints of wood smoke, charcoal embers, tar, sappy spice and black chai tea over a smoky black berry compote fruit core. Silky soft, spicy and full of energy, this is a characterful Cuvée that punches well above its weight, with impressive red and black fruit concentration, a smoky stony mineral vein leading to pithy strawberry fruited finish. Effortlessly classy and elegant.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Domaine Bizot Clos de La Bidaude Rouge 2021, Burgundy
Only circa 900 bottles produced. The first ever showing of this new Cuvée from Jean-Yves outside of his cellar. Taut, young and energetic with the unmistakable Bizot signature smoky, sappy, mineral spice with an opulent melange of forest berries, black plum, sour black cherry, blueberry, wild strawberry and a dusty chalky top note. Youthful vibrancy ripples through the palate while all the while retaining a sense of composure, elegance and class. Delicious tangy acids enliven the red and black fruits leading to a long, chalky, pithy strawberry fruited finish. Beautiful!
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The wines of Domaine Bizot are imported into the UK on release by Wimbledon Wine Cellars. Register your interest for new En-primeur releases.