"Since I was very young, I have been fascinated by the art of French gastronomy. For me, wine is an essential element of a good meal and represents sharing."
Throughout our respective journeys, we meet people with whom we connect on a personal and professional level, but rare is it where both of those coincide. So it was that when meeting Louis Billard, our connection was more profound than most. He spoke and thought of wine as not only something to be stockpiled in a cellar or bragged about, but as a vital component to a meal, and to shared moments with good friends.
Now, this is to be put into context; Louis grew up running around the small yet stellar cellars of Domaine Billard Pere et Fils, now a 5th generation estate a stone's throw from Meursault; it was there where he learned how important the collective enjoyment of the wines among friends and family was. In that same vein, Louis sought to further his own studies, inspired to take the lessons if his youth to an even greater level.
"My experience for two years at the Romanée-Conti estate was a great source of experience and motivation for me. Aubert de Villaine inspired me a lot - he is a legend to me and I exchanged a lot and learned alongside him. He is a very humble and fascinating person."
One lesson Louis took from his youth was to learn from the very best; it's safe to say he took that to heart. Louis spent both the 2018 and 2019 vintages at the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, forming the basis from which he would yield his own winemaking methods. In the spirit of diversification, Louis spent the 2020 vintage alongside Eric Roumier at Chambolle-Musigny's Domaine G. Roumier; that was followed by spending 2021 in South Africa at Newton Johnson, and 2022 at By Farr in Australia. In other words, he's learned from the absolute greatest in 3 different continents.
"I'm still young and humble; my first idea is to have fun during the winemaking; I want to try a lot of things every year, and have my own experiences!"
"This new project is like a dream for me - it's so beautiful," Louis humbly admits, giddy at the thought of the wide palate he gets to create from each year. "I would like try to made fine and delicate wines and respect the style of the different terroirs. I'm quite proud of the heritage around wine in Burgundy, and love the notion of sharing with family and friends; that's why I wanted to explore more in this profession. This is a consecration for me!
Vinification
For his white wines, Louis will press in whole bunches for about 3 hours with a maximum
pressure of 1.8 bars. The pressure will increase slowly over that period, while Louis will consistently taste the press juice and refine the pressure and duration. The musts will be allowed to oxidize after pressing without any addition of sulfur. This is followed by a cold settling overnight.
The red grapes are harvested in the morning by small crates, and are then transferred to a refrigerated container that afternoon for one night's rest.There is then a cold maceration before the fermentation, which is allowed to commence naturally with indigenous yeasts. Louis will utilize a small amount of pump-overs at the beginning of the fermentation to circulate the juice and keep the cap moist; at the end of the fermentation he will punch the cap down to extract any remaining sugars from the bunches.
All fermentations occur with indigenous yeasts, and are aged in both new oak from Francois Freres, Remond and Chassin, as well as used barrels sourced from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. All wines will also be allowed to go through malo-lactic conversion.
Louis' notes on the 2023 Vintage:
I am very happy with the quality of my 2023s; I was able to refine and gain complexity with this second vintage.
For my part, I put more effort and progress into my whites, with a slightly livelier, fresher style, and by refining my barrel aging, particularly by using 456-liter barrels for half of the wine.
For the reds, I kept a significant contribution of whole clusters, between 50 and 100%.
