The 2025s in Barrel: A Visit to Domaine Bruno Clair
Journal · Visit of Wednesday 30 September 2026
The road from Beaune to Marsannay-la-Côte runs the whole length of the Côte de Nuits, and this year it showed a landscape of two colours. In the foreground the vines were still green, a month after the harvest and before autumn turns them gold and brown. Above them the hilltops had already gone yellow. Marsannay has had no rain since the spring.
Domaine Bruno Clair sits in the middle of the village, just south of Dijon. Bruno Clair greeted us at the door, but our guide for the day was his son Arthur, who has run the cellar for several years now. His work is to carry the family style forward while adapting the winemaking to a changing climate.
How Marsannay earned its name
Marsannay is one of the youngest village appellations in Burgundy, and Arthur began with its story. When the first Burgundy appellations were drawn up in 1936, Marsannay was already making wine, but mostly from Gamay. The restaurants of Dijon wanted it, and Pinot Noir was considered too grand for an everyday table. Gamay was also easier to sell than the Pinot Noir of Gevrey-Chambertin next door, and most growers were content with that.
Arthur's great-grandfather was the exception. He urged his neighbours to plant Pinot Noir, was one of the very few to do it himself, and some of the Pinot Noir vines he planted in 1919 are still in the ground today.
For decades the village's wines were sold under the regional Bourgogne name. As vineyard work and winemaking in the village improved, Marsannay became a village appellation in its own right in 1987, with its named climats recognised. The growers have since applied for premier cru status for several of them and are awaiting the decision. In the Clair cellar a few barrels already wear a "1er Cru" plaque, half joke and half good-luck charm.
Three cellars, three eras
Arthur took us down first into the oldest cellar of the estate, dug at the time of the French Revolution. From there we crossed the main chai, where the 2025s are spending their second winter in oak, and finished in the new cellar dug a few years ago. It holds the domaine's wine library: every cuvée from every vintage over the past decades.
The 2025s from the barrel
From Marsannay to Savigny: where the wines we tasted come from.
Village · Marsannay
Marsannay Les Grasses Têtes 2025
The barrel carrying the "1er Cru" plaque. Grasses Têtes is one of the domaine's flagship cuvées and usually shows structure and opulence. The 2025 is surprisingly fresh and balanced, with generous red and black fruit. It is a fine example of the style Bruno Clair built for Marsannay to put the village on the map of the great vineyards of the Côte de Nuits.
When Bruno began making serious wines here, Marsannay was known above all for its rosé. He made vins de garde using whole bunches, the stems adding tannin. Arthur still keeps some whole clusters in Grasses Têtes but doses them more carefully. Stems bring an impression of freshness and a slight bitterness, yet chemically they lower the acidity of the wine. In a warm year like 2025, with ripe fruit and acidity already low, he has to judge how far he can go without upsetting the balance or shortening the wine's life in the cellar.
Village · Marsannay
Marsannay Les Longeroies 2025
A powerful expression of what the village can do, with cherry and raspberry, blackcurrant and blackberry, spice and undergrowth. Everything points to a wine that will open further and gain in complexity as it matures. For Arthur, the variety and quality of Marsannay's terroirs equip it to make some of the best wines of the region.
Village · Chambolle-Musigny
Chambolle-Musigny Les Véroilles 2025
Chambolle is known for floral delicacy, and this wine surprises with its concentration and structure. It was the first of the range that clearly needs time in the cellar, for the tannins to soften and the aromas to open. The potential is obvious and the complexity already generous, which is exactly why it deserves to be drunk at its peak. Arthur suggests waiting five to eight years before opening it, and it can keep for fifteen while holding on to the freshness of its fruit.
1er Cru · Chambolle-Musigny
Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes 2025
A more refined take on the village wine, with elegance and more layers. Red flowers sit above red and black berries, and it is easy to imagine the dried-flower notes they will become with age. The minerality and the concentration of the aromas are remarkable.
1er Cru · Savigny-lès-Beaune
Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru La Dominode 2025
La Dominode was a favourite of Arthur's grandfather and father, who tasted wines from its grapes for many years before the family could buy a share of it. They were fascinated by this terroir because it kept shining in blind tastings, even against more prestigious Gevrey-Chambertin. The domaine treats it with the same care as its grands crus, and the wine is clearly made to spend a few years in the cellar.
By coincidence we tasted the same climat at Domaine Pavelot the week before (read our visit). The two wines share a rich structure, generous tannins and savoury depth, layered with red and black berries.
Savigny-lès-Beaune. La Dominode lies south of the village, towards Beaune.
Grand Cru · Gevrey-Chambertin
Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru 2025
In another register, this wine also carries the signature of the warm vintage, with very ripe fruit. It is still closed, but everything about it suggests a powerful and complex wine in the making.
One Bonnes-Mares, two soils
To close the tasting, Arthur poured two barrels from the same grand cru, drawn from two different parts of the parcel.
Bonnes-Mares straddles Morey-Saint-Denis and Chambolle-Musigny. The white limestone soils of the Terres Blanches run along the upper slope, the iron-rich red clays of the Terres Rouges along the lower slope.
Grand Cru · Upper parcel
Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru, Terres Blanches 2025
From the top of the parcel, on the Morey-Saint-Denis side where Bonnes-Mares meets the Clos de Tart. The name comes from the high proportion of limestone in the soil, which gives the wine tension and minerality. This part is planted parallel to the Clos de Tart, while the rest of the appellation is planted perpendicular to it.
Grand Cru · Lower parcel
Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru, Terres Rouges 2025
From the bottom of the parcel, where red clay rich in iron gives a completely different wine: rounder, warmer and richer on the palate. It offers another reading of Bonnes-Mares altogether.
Arthur is thinking of a limited edition for enthusiasts: a bottle of Terres Blanches, a bottle of Terres Rouges and an empty magnum, so they can search for their own balance and recreate the Bonnes-Mares that appears in the domaine's range.
A vintage a third the size
Our conversation ended on 2026. With the drought and the extreme heat of the summer, the harvest came in at only a third of a normal crop. That will weigh heavily on prices in the years to come, and it is a reminder of how rare and precious these wines are.
Back at the office: Bonnes-Mares 2019
As chance would have it, while we were writing this entry we opened a bottle of Bruno Clair Bonnes-Mares 2019 at the office. It completed the picture: the blend as the winemaker intends it, with the time in bottle it needs.
Grand Cru · Domaine Bruno Clair
Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru 2019
Rich and powerful. The tannins have softened to velvet, and the aromas have matured into red and black berries, a floral bouquet and touches of spice. The length is spectacular and the balance perfectly judged. Seven years on it is delicious, and it could easily spend another ten in the cellar.
The Cabinet opens
We left Marsannay impatient to see the 2025s in bottle. Until then, the domaine's wines are back in the Cabinet, from Marsannay to the grands crus. Discover the Bruno Clair selection, or speak to your concierge to reserve the 2025s when they are released.
Next week the Journal heads north to Chablis, to compare the wines of several renowned producers.