Paul-Henri Thillardon

Paul-Henri and Charles Thillardon established their domaine in Chénas in 2008 in “Chapelle de Guinchay.” The brothers farm about 11 hectares of vine, mainly around Chénas, all farmed biodynamically and using horses in the vineyard instead of tractors where possible. Instead of blending his parcels together, their focus is very much upon expressing the individual sites in Chénas, and therefore they intervene as little as possible in their vinification of their wines. “The maceration is same for all crus,” Paul-Henri explained. “We undertake a natural vinification without chaptalization. We are one of the only ones to have lieux-dits on our labels.” As you can read from the tasting notes, terroir is fundamental to their approach, whether it is the clay and manganese soils in “Les Blemonts” or the granite soils in “Les Boccards” or alluvial soils in “Les Carrières.” Tasting them side-by-side and noticing their nuances, one wonders how many other growers simply blend them away to make a single cuvée? Certainly the brothers show immense enthusiasm for Chénas, which has long remained under the shadow of Moulin-à-Vent. To put it simply, Chénas just needs more ambitious and quality-focused vignerons such as the Thillardons. NEAL MARTIN erobertparker.com