Exciting New Releases from Domaine Amiot-Servelle
11/4/24 -
Take the elegance of wines from Chambolle-Musigny and match that with a domaine focused on making wine in the most ecologically friendly manner; enter Amiot-Servelle. The family can be traced back to the 1920’s but in more recent history, Christian Amiot and Elisabeth Servelle took over their family’s holdings in 1998 creating Amiot-Servelle. Only a few years after its inception the domaine began converting all farming to Organic practices with certification coming in 2008. They were the first in the village to convert and are very proud of this! In 2020, their children, Antoine and Prune took over and have since made huge renovations to the facilities. Construction was completed in 2022 and their winery now works 100% by gravity, which Antoine did note does not change the taste, just the precision of the winemaking. The materials used in building allow for natural cooling, and they have even used recycled barrel staves on the exterior of the domaine (shown below). All these steps taken in advance allow Prune and Antoine the ability to create wines of incredible depth and finesse. At a recent visit I was able to taste through the 2023 vintage that will remain in barrel for approximately 6 more months before bottling and I was blown away by the precision in winemaking from Bourgogne Rouge all the way to the Chambolle Amoureuses! The Amiot-Servelle family is lucky to have 8 hectares of vines spread throughout Chambolle-Musigny, Gevrey-Chambertin, and Morey-Saint-Denis with an impressive seven Premier Crus in their home village of Chambolle.
When asked about possibly expanding to Biodynamics Antoine explained how they use some biodynamic practices but are not looking to further certifications liking the freedom to farm how he would like to. A perfect example of this was presented when Antoine discussed the 2024 vintage. As many may already know it was a very challenging year for all winemakers, with many losing 50% or more of their crop compared to previous years. Many believe that when issues such as these arise it is better to drop their certifications and spray to help the vines, but for Amiot-Servelle they committed to their farming practices and although they lost 80% of their crop, Antoine notes that they lost just as much fruit as their non-organic neighbors. They integrate specific sprays and a special tractor that has allowed them to lower their copper usage by 30%. Everything here is done with intention, and it is evident in the wines.
As for winemaking practices, everything is hand harvested and brought back to the winery where it is stored in a trailer-sized fridge until it is ready for a 4-5 day pre-fermentation cold maceration. The wine then goes through alcoholic fermentation that occurs naturally with indigenous yeasts and is kept under strict temperature control. Based on taste, as there is no recipe, the family may choose to pump-over or punch down the cap as they feel it is needed. After maceration, the juice is pressed and then put into barrels by gravity where it is then aged 16-18 months depending on the vintage. The barrel age ranges from 10% new oak in the Bourgogne Rouge to 50% in some Grand Cru sites.
-Hanna Krilov
