Jean-Marc Millot Grand Cru Echezeaux 1997

Quiet, unassuming, shy, yet quick to smile and jest, Jean-Marc Millot has the appearance of a young vigneron from earlier years. His hands are stained and gnarled by working with the vines, his cheeks bright rosy and complexion clear from many days in the wintry and spring-chill air. He began estate-bottling at the family domaine in 1990, working the six hectares of vines originally purchased by his grandparents after World War II. He added another 1.4 hectares when his wife inherited her share of her family's estate, and today he will tell you he has enough property: "more than eight hectares is too much for one man to work alone."

To call Jean-Marc a traditionalist would be to understate his commitment to working the land and making his wines by hand. Artisinale is perhaps the best description, but neo-Luddite would not be inappropriate. Work in the vineyards is done by hand, no tractors to help him till the soil, no pneumatic secateurs to help with pruning or harvest. The vines are tended organically without pesticides or fertilizers, and the chais shows no signs of pumps, gadgets, or fancy presses. The grape bunches are destemmed by a mechanical, not electric, device which is still turned by hand. Following the alcoholic fermentation, which includes the ancient pigeage method of Jean-Marc lowering himself into the vat to break up the cap, the wines are drained off by gravity to oak barrels for their malolactic and aging. They are tasted regularly but racked only once; just prior to being bottled and corked by hand, cask by individual cask. With yields ranging on average from 25 to 32 hectoliters per hectare, the wines are rarely anything but profound.