Côte de Beaune, Burgundy
Owned by the same family since 1834, Domaine Chandon de Briailles currently belongs to the Comte and Comtesse Aymard-Claude de Nicolay and their children. The Comte had himself inherited from his grandmother, the Comtesse Chandon de Briailles, who was connected to the famous champagne house of Moët et Chandon. Located four kilometres from Beaune, in the département of Côte d’or, the Domaine is north of Beaune in the Côte de Beaune.
The vineyard sits on 33,36 acres equally distributed between the three villages of Savigny-Lès Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses et Aloxe-Corton. The Domaine was very effectively restructured in 1982 by Nadine de Nicolay. With considerable effort and tenacity, and to the admiration of her colleagues and competitors, she was able to bring the Domaine back to its former glory. Today, her children, Claude and François de Nicolay run the business together. Sister and brother come from different backgrounds but share a common passion: vineyards and wine. Both were strongly influenced by the hands-on approach of their mother. Running the Domaine together since 2001, their complementary is a major asset.
When Nadine de Nicolay committed herself to the Domaine in the early 1980’s she rapidly understood the negative effects of using non-organic chemical products (weedkillers, pesticides and insecticides). She decided the re-equip the Domaine with ploughs and other traditional tools. Treatments are only used in case of absolute necessity and there are no longer uses systematically or preventively. Since 2005 that the Domaine has been cultivating its 33.36 acres according to totally natural methods. This represents a considerable effort in terms of manpower and a constant and consuming nurturing effort. This leads to well-balanced grapes, ripe and full of energy that will be able to produce excellent wines, worthy of their “appellations”, pure and appealing.
