Domaine Henri de Villamont

What you will see

The visit starts in the vines, with the year's work and the history of the domaine, then moves through the winery and the vaulted cellars to show how the wines are made and aged, and ends with a tasting. There are four formulas: a simple tasting without a visit at €15 per person, two visit-and-tasting formulas at €30 and €50, and a tasting in the private cellar with gougères at €70 (two people minimum). The wines age for 6 to 18 months in 228-litre Burgundy barrels.

History

At the end of the 19th century Léonce Bocquet, a grower who also owned the Château du Clos de Vougeot and part of its vines, had these buildings put up to make and age the wines of his estates. He hired Charles Suisse, an architect and professor of fine arts, who designed a massive and unusual complex in colours rare in the region; it took eight years to build. After Bocquet's death the house changed hands several times, until the Schenk family group bought it in 1964 and created the house of Henri de Villamont.

By 2004 the house was producing more than 20 million bottles a year. The Schenk family then gave up bulk trading, rebuilt the winery and cut production to about 350,000 bottles, all from Burgundy, from Chablis to the Mâconnais. Its own 10 hectares include the Savigny monopole Le Village and the premier cru Clos des Guettes around the buildings, four Chambolle-Musigny premiers crus and half a hectare of the grand cru Grands-Échezeaux, all picked by hand.