Ballot-Millot

Charles Ballot has run Domaine Ballot-Millot from Meursault since 2000. The estate carries the names of his grandparents' families, Ballot and Millot, who began buying vines in the village in the middle of the seventeenth century; further parcels came in from his mother's side. It farms around ten hectares, some eight of them planted to Chardonnay, with red parcels reaching into Volnay, Pommard and Beaune.

Chevalier-Montrachet heads the range, the grand cru on the steep, thin-soiled slope directly above Le Montrachet. In Meursault the domaine holds three premiers crus: Perrières at the Puligny end of the hillside, Charmes beside it, and Genevrières a little to the north, where one parcel of vines is now some seventy years old. Higher up the same slope sits the village lieu-dit Les Narvaux, with Les Criots and straight village Meursault below. Chassagne-Montrachet premier cru Morgeot Tête du Clos crosses into the neighbouring commune. The reds run to Volnay premier cru Santenots, on the Meursault boundary, and Taillepieds; Pommard premier cru Les Charmots, La Réfène and Les Pézerolles; and Beaune premier cru Les Épenottes. A Bourgogne in each colour completes it.

Charles Ballot moved the vineyards off chemical weed control in favour of ploughing when he took over, and brought yields down. Herbicides are not used and the farming follows organic practice, but the estate holds no organic or biodynamic certification. Whites are barrel-fermented and left on their full lees without bâtonnage, new oak running to around a quarter on the premiers crus and ten to fifteen per cent at village level, before the wines finish in tank; reds spend fourteen to eighteen months in barrel. The result is a leaner, more mineral Meursault than the village's older reputation for richness would suggest: orchard fruit and citrus over a saline, stony close. Arcana Cabinet lists ten wines from the domaine: Chevalier-Montrachet grand cru, the Meursault premiers crus Perrières and Genevrières, village Meursault and Les Narvaux in magnum, Chassagne-Montrachet premier cru Morgeot Tête du Clos, Volnay premier cru Santenots, Pommard premier cru Les Charmots and Bourgogne in both colours. The range also includes Meursault premier cru Charmes, Volnay Taillepieds, Beaune Les Épenottes and further Pommard premiers crus.