Domaine Tortochot

GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN – I started importing wine from Chantal in 1999, at the very beginning of my importing business. The Tortochot family has been making wine since the 1800s and is one of the most respected families in all of Burgundy. Even Robert Parker says that “Tortochot makes some of the best wine in Burgundy. They make quality wine year in and year out. They have known great success. I really like their wines.”

The family also has a great story. When Chantal was a young girl, she was told that she would ruin a vintage if she went into the winery while the wine was being made. Chauvinism was alive and well in Burgundy in her youth. Ironically, now she is a respected female winemaker. She was one of the founders and was the initial Vice President of the Woman’s Winemaker Association in Burgundy. That’s a long way from being told that she would ruin a vintage because she was a girl who walked into the winery.

Despite her humble beginnings, she didn’t want her prestigious family estate sold off when her father died; so she made a career change from International Finance in her 30s. She became a certified oenologist in the mid 1990s. Then, she got serious about learning the family’s trade secrets by working closely with her father. Her father died in 2001, but Chantal has been making the wines for her family since 1996.

Chantal is passionate about her plots of vines. She even transformed the estate into organic agriculture in 2008. She works all her wines in the same manner. She says that each vineyard yields different material to work with. So, each of her wines tastes a bit different to reflect the various vineyards where she owns vines.

Furthermore, she likes to let the winemaking process happen naturally. She feels that great fruit from great vineyards will make world-class wines if the winemaker simply oversees the process. And her approach works. Chantal’s wines exhibit a powerful structure from the long maceration. Yet, her genius is that her wines also retain finesse and elegance. What a yummy combination!