A strong supporter of the concept of terroir, Christophe Perrot-Minot devotes himself to keeping its meaning and thus produces wines that reveal all its complexity. His wines are pure and balanced, extremely delicate, and easily digested. They are in the tradition of the classic and timeless wines.
History
The origins of the estate date back to the mid-nineteeth century, but it is Amédée Merme who devoted himself to expanding and organizing the vineyard in the early 20th century. With his son Armand, they sought to ensure the reputation of the estate in France and beyond by producing quality wines.
In the 1970s, Marie-France Merme together with her husband Henri Perrot-Minot continued the work of her father Armand. After Armand's death, Marie-France and Henri took over the running of the estate, which changed its name into Perrot-Minot.
Together, they maintained the tradition of quality and innovation which already existed with the previous two generations.
In 1993, their son, Christophe Perrot-Minot, after spending seven years as a wine trader joined the estate and became the manager. His previous experience had provided him with an in depth knowledge and a genuine command of wine growing.
The estate now covers 13 hectares of vineyard spread over the most famous terroirs of Morey-Saint-Denis, Gevrey-Chambertin, Chambolle Musigny, Vosne Romanée and Nuits-Saint-Georges.
Philosophy
Encouraging Biodiversity
For a few years, Christophe Perrot-Minot has favoured the use of products which are approved of in organic farming and he has reduced the doses of conventional products by observing the weather, wind, moisture and heat. He also seeks to recreate the microbial life of his soils and to improve their structure by systematically ploughing them and earthing up the vines in winter.
Limited Yields
The guyot pruning is comparatively short so as to limit the production of the grapes and to ensure good grape ripening. Thinning out of the leaves and green harvesting may prove useful depending on the year to ensure an optimum ripening of the fruit.
Highly Regulated Grape Picking
The harvest is entirely handpicked and first sorted in the vineyard itself, then carried in small boxes to a sorting table for a second selection. Every grape is cut in half to check its health status and eliminate those which are not perfectly ripe.
Depending on the year, a proportion of the whole harvest goes to the vats. It is delivered in small trays so as to keep the grapes intact and the terroir flavour as natural and as accurate can be. The grapes are calibrated so as to keep the smallest grapes of the oldest and most genuine vines. The estate is aiming at producing approximately 25 to 30 hectolitres per hectare on average for the whole production.
