With an impressive diversity of Premier and Grand Cru vineyard parcels in Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet, Jean-Marc Pillot is one of the most consistently high-achieving Burgundy producers we feature on SommSelect. Pillot’s wines offer succulent and bold fruit that is always expertly balanced with deep, mineral terroir of limestone and clay. The one frustrating hitch to Jean-Marc’s stellar craftsmanship is that his small-production wines become harder to acquire with each passing vintage. In SommSelect’s first year of business, we offered multiple back vintages and new releases of Pillot’s top wines. Today, that’s nearly impossible to do with the ongoing deluge of critical praise and industry enthusiasm for Burgundy. As such, the flow of Pillot’s wines into the country has all but dried up, so buyers must scrap for the little that is available. 

Of the “big three” white wine villages of the Côte de Beaune (Puligny, Chassagne, and Meursault), Chassagne is the only one still producing a significant percentage of red wines. That percentage used to be higher, in fact, and the reasons for converting Pinot Noir over to Chardonnay have been largely commercial—the greatest Chardonnay vineyards in the world are stationed around here, so it’s no wonder many growers have made (and continue making) the switch. Like most of his neighbors, Pillot’s overall production is dominated by whites, but it includes exceptionally noteworthy reds, like “Les Grandes Terres.” This delicious Pinot Noir hails from an old vineyard (many vines are pushing past 65 years of age) just a few miles beyond the southern border of Chassagne-Montrachet. 

This dream “value” location, combined with 12 months of barrel aging, further resting in stainless steel, and bottling without filtration, provides electric red berry fruit, intricate tannins, and a hard-to-define but impossible to deny “energy” that makes it very difficult to drink slowly. It’s rare to find a red Burgundy so satisfying, thirst-quenching, and complete at this price. As Les Grandes Terres unfurls in the glass, it reveals supple red and blue fruits, spice, and savory earth that finish with a rustic, mineral twist. When enjoying in the next year or two, please decant for 20-30 minutes prior to serving in large Burgundy stems. I’ve always found this bottle to be an immaculate companion to filet mignon, but personally discovered it was even better when paired with crispy duck legs. I look forward to opening quite a few more bottles with friends this holiday season and have high hopes for its aging potential in the cellar. It’s a well-known wine that always disappears from the US market shortly after arriving each autumn, so I’m making a point to stock up this year—you should as well!