Domaine Dandelion

Christian Knott (left) and Morgane Seuillot (right), a couple of Aussie and a native Burgundian are now making some extremely impressive Pinot, Gamay, and Aligoté vineyards in the “Hautes Côtes” on 6 small parcels around the village of Meloisey - just over the hill from St Romain (less than 4 hectares in total).

Morgane spends most of her time in her vineyards, doing all of the work herself (with the occasional help of her father’s horses, Safran and Reine, and, when she really needs him, her occasional consultant, Christian, who has a day job at Chandon de Briailles.

The harvest in Hautes Côtes de Beaune is nearly a month later than in the rest of Burgundy. There is no mechanisation in the vineyards, only horses are used or when the vineyards are too steep, they work only by hand. They choose to spray raw milk on the vines instead of sulfur and no pumping or filtration is used. Grapes are pressed in an old, wood-beam, vertical screw press, and aged in neutral oak under their house.

They produce just two wines in extremely limited quantities. A real find considering how difficult it can be for small scale vignerons to exist in this part of France with the price of land being so high.