Domaine Pierre-Louis et Jean-François Bersan

What you will see

The guided visit leads through a string of vaulted cellars with old presses, crushers and storage vats, part of a labyrinth of galleries that once linked the cellars beneath the whole village and sheltered the inhabitants during sieges. It ends with a commented tasting of up to six wines, among them Saint-Bris, the only Sauvignon appellation in Burgundy, the rare Saint-Bris Fyé Gris, Bourgogne Côtes d'Auxerre, Irancy, Chablis and Aligoté. The old-vine Cuvée Marianne is the domaine's selection range.

History

The Bersans have been winegrowers in Saint-Bris since 1453. The estate farms 13 hectares of white grapes and 7 of red, on slopes along the east side of the Yonne valley, with Portlandian limestone on the hilltops and Kimmeridgian marl on the slopes. Vines have grown in Saint-Bris since the first centuries AD; by the 19th century they covered nearly 1,100 hectares, worked by 450 growers, before phylloxera struck and many growers turned to cherry orchards.

Pierre-Louis joined the domaine in 2009. Step by step he gave up chemical weedkillers for ploughing and natural treatments, and the estate gained organic certification for the 2023 harvest. The wines are made in a modern winery, in stainless steel or in oak for the most promising cuvées, then aged in the village cellars, which were built for both winemaking and defence. The estate produces about 120,000 bottles a year, half of them for export.