In 1890, the Naigeon family is yet established in Gevrey Chambertin since more than 150 years. Initially farmers and cooper, the Naigeon family buys some acrages of vines and so does start to produce a few barrels of red. The Domaine is born ! Like always at this time, the wine production is a very small income, so the cooperage and the farm are continued, together with a small wine merchant activity.
The estate and the wine business grows year after year. When my father Jean-Pierre come to world in 1928, my grandparents are in charge of the Domaine and the wine merchant business, started more than 30 years ago.
Jeanne and Pierre Naigeon, my grand parents, are adding to the Domaine some prestigious Grands Crus from the Côte de Nuits, with Charmes Chambertin and Bonnes Mares. Their youngest sun, Jean-Pierre (my father) will take over the family business in 1955, after some hotel management studies. Jean-Pierre marries Wera the same year and they will have 4 boys. Pierre, one of them, will join his father in the business in 1980.
When Jean-Pierre passed away in 1996, the domaine was still quite small. In 2003 and 2005, Pierre increased the Domaine to the now a day size of 11.5 hectares (29 acres).
A green agriculture, a permanent involvement and care and the research of the perfect expression of the grape variety are the guide line to produce wines full of fragrances, delicate and powerful together, revealing the best of our terroirs.
Tenneguy Mailly, who was in charge during 17 years of a very prestigious estate in Meursault has joined Pierre Naigeon from the harvest 2008. He his huge passion for wine and his fantastic knowledge pulls forward the Pierre Naigeon production, on a very high level of quality.
Since more than 2000 years, Burgundy hills are planted with vineyards. At the Domaine Pierre Naigeon, we take absolute care of this very precious inheritance. We also want to pass it on to our kids in good shape with minimising our environmental footprint.
That’s why we take extreme care of our vineyards, using the traditional cultural techniques inherited from our ancestors, working mostly by hand, combined with the last scientific knowledge about the vines and their diseases.
The respect of the plant cycle of all-throw the seasons, the cultivation of the soils and the use of only organic fertiliser reinforce the natural defences of de vines against the deseases.
With privileging a sustainable farming, without use of any herbicide, Pierre Naigeon gets in his wines the highest expression of their terroirs, a natural alchemy of the complex soils of Burgundy and the unique micro-climates of each vineyard.
The average age of the vines is remarkably high, mostly over 50 years. This ensures deep roots, nourishing the vines from many different lays of soil, to produce the most complex wines. This also reduces the natural level of cropping, providing more concentrated wines.
Our philosophy is to produce in a natural way perfect quality fruit to produce, with a minimal human intervention, great quality wines.
Since 2008, thanks to Roland Masse, the renowned winemaker of the Hospices de Beaune, who is sharing with us his huge knowledge of Burgundy, Pierre Naigeon improves even more his workmanship of the agriculture and the winemaking.
Before giving you the detail of our range of wines, a short description of our way of doing, our «philosophy». Cultivation the soil, green way of farming to produce high quality grapes. All is done is the vineyard to favour the vines life, to produce perfectly healthy and ripe grapes, with a low yield, adapted to our grape varieties and to our terroirs.
The picking is done by hand and the grapes are carried to the winery in small buckets. With a strict hand sorting, the perfectly healthy and ripe bunches are gently pulled in the fermenters, without use of pomp. Then, the vinification starts in the most natural way : after a few days of cold soaking, the indigenous yeasts of each vineyard transform the fructose in alcohol. This process is accompanied with a few gentle «pigeages» (plonging). When the fermentation is over, the wine sits on skins during a couple of days , before being racked by gravity in barrels. The 12 month ageing in French oak barrels takes place in our 17th century cellar, where the natural temperature is perfect all throw the year.
Each barrel is checked individually during this maturation process, and is toped once a week, to protect the wines against oxidation. To keep the fruitiness and the fresh fragrances of the wines, the barrels are racked only once, without the use of a pomp, a few weeks before the bottling date. This traditional racking will soften the tannins and will separate the lies from the fine wine. Another four or five weeks to settle down the wine, before the bottling date, chosen according to the lunar cycle, the air pressure and the temperature. No fining or filtration, to preserve all the natural qualities of the wines (our white wines sometimes request a light fining).
For our best wines, the bottling is done by hand, by gravity.
Grands Crus :
Bonnes Mares, Mazy Chambertin «Les Mazy Haut», Charmes Chambertin, Corton Blanc «Les Grandes Lolières ».
Premiers Crus :
Gevrey Chambertin «Les Fontenys», «Lavaux Saint Jacques», «Les Cazetiers», «Les Perrières», «Les Cherbaudes». Morey Saint Denis «La Riotte». Fixin «Les Hervelets». Chassagne Montrachet Blanc «Les Embrazées».
Villages :
Vosne Romanée «Vieille Vigne». Chambolle Musigny «Vieille Vigne». Morey Saint Denis «Les Herbuottes». Gevrey Chambertin «Vieille Vigne», «Les Crais», «La Croix des Champs», «Les Corvées», «En Pallud», «En Vosne», «Echezeaux». Marsannay Rouge «La Charme aux Prêtres».Puligny Montrachet Blanc «Les Reuchaux». Saint Romain Blanc «».
Génériques :
Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits Rouge «La Riotte». Bourgogne Haute Côtes de Nuits Blanc «les Martennes». Bourgogne Pinot Noir «En Combe», «Les Maladières», «Grands Champs». Bourgogne Aligoté «En Riotte». Bourgogne Passetoutgrain. Coteaux Bourguignons «En Auvonne».