DOMAINE BENJAMIN ROBLOT
Chambolle-Musigny
Domaine Benjamin Roblot is a relatively young but promising small domaine in Chambolle-Musigny. Trained as an engineer, Benjamin Roblot took over the family vineyards and started his own domaine in 2016 at the age of 31.
Benjamin’s grandfather, Maurice Roblot, owned top vineyards in the village of Chambolle and beyond. When he passed away in 1980, the vineyards were passed down to his children, Benjamin’s father and his aunt. Neither of the two siblings were interested in taking over the domaine and it was decided to lease all of the vineyards. Few years later, when Benjamin’s aunt passed way, her children sold her holdings. When some of the lease established in 1980 finished in 2006, Benjamin’s father reclaimed the vineyards and started selling grapes to négociants.
In 2016, Benjamin Roblot’s holdings included the Grand Cru Bonnes-Mares, the super Premier Cru Les Amoureuses, and two more Premier Cru in Chambolle: Les Fuées and Les Gruenchers. In 2018, Benjamin planted an additional 1.5 hectares of vines in the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune. Thanks to the end of the lease of more of his father’s vineyards, Benjamin Roblot will get back two additional vineyards of Chambolle 1er Cru, Gruenchers and Noirots, as well as some Chambolle village and Bourgogne vineyards.
To cover the acquisition of his equipment and to re-inject cash to the business, Benjamin Roblot made the decision to sell all of his Bonnes-Mares grapes to négociants in 2017.
Benjamin’s ambition is to produce serious vins de garde, worthy of their terroirs and renowned appellations.
In the Vineyard
In 2016, Benjamin took over healthy vineyards that had been farmed organically since 2003.
Like most great vignerons, Benjamin strongly believes that meticulous work in the vineyards is the key make great wines.
In the Cellar
Aiming for the best, Benjamin invested in a small but state-of-the-art winery, with temperature-controlled wooden vats and a high-performance destemmer.
The wines are all fermented in temperature-controlled wooden vats with natural yeast. Usually 10 days into fermentation, the must is pressed by a vertical press to further extract phenolics and flavor.
For his first vintages, Benjamin aged his Bonnes Mares in 100% new oak and his Premier Crus in 50% new oak, building up his collection of old barrels. In the future, the aim is to use 50% for Grand Crus and 30% for Premier Crus.
The wines are bottled unfiltered with small amounts of sulfur.
Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru
This Bonnes-Mares comes from a tiny plot surrounded by the holdings of Mugnier, de Vogüé, Drouhin, and Mortet.
Only one barrel is produced every year.
Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
Les Amoureuses
Les Amoureuses is the most famous and is often considered the best of the 24 Premier Cru climats in Chambolle-Musigny.
Only 3 barrels are produced every year.
Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
Les Gruenchers
The lieu-dit of Les Gruenchers is close to Les Lavrottes and Les Noirots.
Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
Fuées
The lieu-dit of Fuées is in the continuity of Bonnes-Mares heading back to the village. The lower part of the vineyard, planted north-south, has a richer soil with few stones while the top of the vineyard is steep with little topsoil and is planted east-west.
