Antoine Olivier

These are tasty, relatively elegant renditions of Santenay but lose nothing in terms of concentration or clarity. A fine address in Santenay. BILL NANSON, The Burgundy Report

We are always on the lookout for new Burgundy producers and while we see many, few fit the criteria we require. We have seen the wines of Antoine Olivier over a couple of years now and each time we have been blown away by the quality and loved the style. This year we have finally managed to secure the import rights for this young gun Santenay producer.

After the family domaine was split between himself and his sister a few years ago Antoine has worked tirelessly to transform the estate in to a force to be reckoned with. Moving in out of the traditional cellar and in to Vincent Girardin’s old facility in 2007 was the first step in the process and gave him the room he needed to start implementing some of the changes he had in mind to realise the potential quality of his not insubstantial holdings.

While many traditionally may think of Santenay as Pinot country first and foremost Antoine was one of the first to really see the potential for producing great Chardonnay in the region and quickly honed in on old and often neglected sites he believed were capable of producing something unique and special, adding new acreage to the property and working more closely with the vines in these sites he already had. He works very much in the “non interventionalist” model with ambient yeasts doing all the heavy lifting, little new wood to mask the vineyard character and no fining or filtration. His goal is to clearly express the terroirs and old vines he works with in such a way that the vineyard comes first and the winemaking is definitely second fiddle.

Antoine is one of the poster boys for the changing face of Burgundy: a member of the younger generation who are pushing the boundaries of both quality and perceptions: perceptions of regionality and the image of a great domaine. He and his cohort are proving to the world and their neighbours that you don’t need to have plots in Puligny or Chambolle or Vosne or Gevrey to make fantastic wines that scream of place and are world class quality. ROSCOE