Artémis Domaines, the vineyard arm of French billionaire François Pinault, announced earlier this month the creation of a new domaine, to be called Domaine des Cabottes.
The new domaine will be endowed with some of the finest vineyards in the Côte d’Or thanks to a transfer from Bouchard Père et Fils, which Artémis acquired in 2022.
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The vineyards concerned include impressive holdings in the grand crus of Montrachet, Chevalier-Montrachet and Corton, and some of Bouchard’s most emblematic premier cru holdings as well, including Beaune Grèves premier cru Vigne de l’Enfant Jésus, Volnay Caillerets, and holdings in the principal premier crus of Meursault.
A total of 35 hectares of vines will be transferred, and Bouchard will retain about 50ha of vines.
Bouchard Père et Fils, founded in 1731, is among the oldest Burgundy négociants. The firm was managed by nine generations of the Bouchard family, but in 1995 the family sold the winery, stocks, and vineyards to Joseph Henriot from Champagne. Henriot invested heavily in Bouchard, constructing a new state-of-the-art winery and assembling a superb team, including the talented Frédéric Weber, who was hired in 2002 and remains today as technical director.
From the untimely passing of Henriot in 2015, the Henriot holdings were managed by his nephew, Gilles de Larouzière. In 2022, the Henriot family ceded control of Bouchard to François Pinault in exchange for a minority stake in Artémis Domaines, whose other Burgundy properties include Domaine d’Eugénie in Vosne-Romanée and the Clos de Tart.
Artémis, led by Frédéric Engerer, began to refocus its activities quickly. The first step was to stop purchasing grapes from 2024 to concentrate on its own holdings. It also transferred some of Bouchard’s top vineyards in the Côte de Nuits to Domaine d’Eugenie, including vines in Echézeaux, Clos de Vougeot and Bonnes Mares, all of which will be incorporated from the 2023 vintage. In total, three hectares will be transferred to Domaine d’Eugenie, whose technical director, Jaeok Cramette, was appointed in 2024 after a stint at Artémis property Château Grillet.
At the same time, Artémis had already begun the groundwork for the Domaine des Cabottes. As reported by Decanter last summer, the firm exchanged some of Bouchard’s vineyards for the Château de Puligny-Montrachet, owned by Etienne de Montille.
Construction of a new winery for the Domaine des Cabottes has begun at this site, which Engerer hopes will be ready for the harvest of 2027. The wines produced from its newly endowed vineyards, however, will be sold under the Domaine des Cabottes label from the 2023 vintage.
These changes continue and accelerate the arc of improvement initiated by Henriot thirty years ago. Engerer has long felt that Bouchard’s vineyard holdings and négociant volumes were too extensive to allow the quality that he envisioned.
All of the Artémis vineyards in Burgundy are now certified organic, and the entire Domaine des Cabottes will be cultivated biodynamically from the 2026 vintage.
The reorganisation will also allow Weber to prolong the maturation of his whites as long as desired, and to manage each vineyard parcel-by-parcel. Engerer has given his team in Burgundy all the tools needed for top-quality results, and it will be exciting to taste the outcome.
