Paul Jouard

CHASSAGNE-MONTRACHET – Paul Jouard is the 7th generation winemaker in this storied family. He has been making the family wines since 1992. He is a throwback to the Burgundy winemakers of old. He is a one man show and works an incredible number of hours each day. Paul maximizes his time in the vineyards. He enjoys the solitary life because it gives him ample time to think clearly, allowing him to concentrate on the other aspects of winemaking while in his cellars.

Paul is extremely precise. Everything must be perfectly clean and put in its exact place. This precision is one of his super powers that contribute to the extremely high quality of his wines.

Sure, Paul has a state-of-the-art winery and cellar, but he says technology cannot make good wine. This technology allows him to better organize his work, maximizing the flavors derived from the grapes and his world-class plots of land in Chassagne. So, instead of using winemaker techniques to change the flavor of the wines, Paul gives the grapes and the soil every possible opportunity to express themselves to their fullest.

Paul harvests all of his grapes by hand. He uses an innovative conveyer system as well as gravity to fill his barrels for aging. This eliminates the need to pump the wines so much. That way, the wines retain more fruitiness and liveliness. For his red wines, Paul likes a long maceration and fermentation process in order to get the fullness of flavors out of the Pinot Noir grapes.

Paul is also a gourmand. He enjoys gourmet food that pairs well with his world-class wines. The universal opinion is that this guy simply makes GREAT wine. Please enjoy Burgundy wines the way they should be made.