Francois Carillon

As I observed earlier this year, Domaine François Carillon is only a new incarnation of a long-standing family tradition that stretches back many generations: François is named after his great-grandfather, François Virot, the pioneering regisseur of Domaine Leflaive who must rank among the 20th century's greatest white winemakers, and he began working with his father, Louis Carillon, with the 1988 vintage. François's style is richer and more gourmand than his brother Jacques's… these generous, gourmand wines will no doubt find an avid clientele the world over. WILLIAM KELLEY, Wine Advocate

For those who may not be familiar with this estate, Francois Carillon is the son of Louis Carillon who was one of the greatest winemakers of all time in Puligny. His eponymous domaine was rivalled only by those of Leflaive and Sauzet at the time.  

The domaine was split equally between his two sons and the wines continued to be made together until 2010 when Francois begun vinifying his own wines at his new cellar. From the very first release the potential of Francois wines to one day rival his fathers was clear in the bottle and to see them now reach this kind of quality is incredibly satisfying for anyone who loved his father’s wines, as I certainly did, as did anyone who was drinking white Burgundy at that time.

While today Francois wines retain some of his father’s character in terms of their intensity and power, they are also more chiselled and poised than you often got with Louis bottlings. They rely more on the terroir and quality of the fruit than the winemaking. It is a shift that has been seen across the region for some time but it rarely as well executed as it is chez Francois Carillon. Today this estate has, perhaps, surpassed the quality of the father’s and has firmly cemented itself in the top echelon of producers in the region.  ROSCOE