Domaine la Côtelette

Benoît and Sandra Kilian are based in the tiny town of Trugny in the Côte-d’Or, approximately 20kms east of Beaune. Benoît is a musician who began selling wine in Dijon and Beaune through his company BK VINS.

In 2012, grape grower and winemaker Guy Bussière told Benoît he was selling his vineyards, but Benoît was so immersed in his work in France's music scene and his early efforts selling wine that he didn’t have the capacity to take it on. Five years later, and after a walk through the deteriorating but exceptional vineyards, Benoît changed his tune: he couldn’t resist the challenge of bringing the vines back to life and purchased the 2.5ha plot. The vineyards were planted by Guy’s grandfather, who farmed strictly without the use of systemic chemicals. The oldest vines were planted in 1919.

In a region that once hosted 700ha of vines, Benoît’s small plot is one of the only remaining, now surrounded by woods and orchards after mechanization, phylloxera and land consolidation erased the rest. Benoît asked his friends Marc Soyard, Romauld Valot and Gilles Ballorin if they thought the vineyard was restorable, and together they got to work on reviving the soil, pruning and trellising. Thus, Domaine la Côtelette was born.

Today, Benoît and Sandra farm Chardonnay, Aligote, Melon de Bourgogne, Pinot Noir and Gamay all with organic and biodynamic practices. In the cellar, it's strictly grapes—that’s it. Their future is bright; they are currently planting one more hectare of vines, mainly hybrids and some other interesting varieties. They are eager, hard-working and very open-minded, love their work and make incredibly pure, expressive, alive wines from an incredible, lesser-known part of Burgundy.