Denis Mortet

The young Mortet has always had a gifted touch but it seems clear that he is really coming into his own as his wines grow ever more sophisticated and pure. BURGHOUND

The young Mortet is already renowned in Burgundy for the quality of his vineyard work and grower after grower spoke admiringly of how Arnaud has picked up right where his father left off. I should add that compliments from colleagues when it concerns vineyard work are given sparingly in Burgundy but the two domaines that are routinely mentioned are Mortet and Groffier… BURGHOU

Domaine Denis Mortet in Burgundy was founded by Denis Mortet in the early 1990s. He died at the age of 51, after taking his own life in January 2006. In hisbrief, but highly acclaimed passage from the winemaking scene, he rose to become a colossal figure in Burgundy, fashioning wines from relatively modest vineyard holdings which punch far above their weight. He rose to fame with an exceptional range of wines from the 1993 vintage.

He believed with a deep passion that the work in the vineyard was everything. But there was an essential contradiction to his work: he yearned to make wines of finesse and style, but everything he did in the vineyard and cellar tended towards sumptuous wines of almost unparalleled weight and opulence, which achieved cult status and a devoted following. But the harder he drove himself, the further from his stated aim he went. Only now, under son Arnaud and the watchful eye of his mother Laurence, are the wines achieving the minerality and elegance (and seemingly without sacrificing weight) that Denis sought.

At the domaine everything starts in the vineyard, where every measure is taken to produce the finest, ripest fruit possible, creating a style of wine which, as Denis used to say is "a pleasure to drink young or old”. Denis Mortet's immaculate vineyards are the key and no stone is left unturned in the pursuit of excellence. JASPER MORRIS MW