Bernard Burgaud

The Domaine Bernard Burgaud is situated in the commune of Ampuis, in the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation. Their 4 hectares of vines, 100% Syrah, comprise the following parcels: Le Champin, Côte Blonde, Fonjeant, Leyat, Les Moutonnes and La Brosse. Grandfather Olivier Burgaud, interested in the vineyard work, created some plots around 1950 to complete his mainly agricultural estate. In 1980, his son Bernard Burgaud, founded the domaine in his name that now exclusively bottles wine and enlarged their holdings to 4 hectares. Bernard was part of a generation of winemakers that embodied the renewal of Côte-Rôtie. He has also, for nearly 40 years, perfected his cultivation techniques (for example by maintaining "covering plants" around the vines), as well as modernizing and optimizing his winery by installing a pneumatic press or by using suspended tanks that allow winemaking by gravity, excluding the use of a lift pump.

Since 2020, Bernard’s son Pierre Burgaud has succeeded his father as head of this family estate. In Côte Rôtie, the incline (sometimes up to 50%) makes mechanization impossible so the domain created an ingenious zip-line system for harvest. Vineyard work is manual and executed with great care, which is far from easy, but this way Pierre Burgaud ensures a perfect continuity and quality of his production. Aging is done in oak barrels (which are renewed at 20% each year) which are racked every 3 months in order to oxygenate and naturally clarify the wine, and after 15 months, the wine is bottled. While many estates in Côte Rôtie are increasingly creating a range of parcel wines, the domaine.

Bernard Burgaud produces a single blend of all its 6 parcels in order to best reflect the identity of its terroir. While the average vine age is beginning to exceed 40 years, their Côte Rôtie reveals pretty aromas of blackcurrant cream, black olive, freshly ground pepper, spices, and floral notes of cornflower and old rose. On the palate, the frame is well balanced, with frank tannins, and juicy flesh full of fruit. The purity and youth of the last vintages hold great promise after 4 to 7 years of ageing. A Côte-Rôtie for Syrah lovers.