Auction update: Chandon de Briailles

Chandon de Briailles on Burgundy’s Côte de Beaune has become a darling of critics. db looks at the reasons. 

In the endless quest to find the best value in Burgundy, we have travelled the length and narrow breadth of the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune, and explored every nook and cranny of the lesserknown Côte Chalonnaise and Mâconnais in the south of the region.

But it took an iDealwine trip to the Loire Valley, and a wine tasting in Angers, to run into François de Nicolay of Chandon de Briailles. Many Pinot lovers might smirk at the idea of any kind of ‘well-kept secret’ on the Côte de Beaune – arguably one of the most thoroughly examined wine regions for value, second only to the Côte de Nuits – but in the more ‘rustic’ and less fashionable appellation of Savigny-lès-Beaune, François and his sister Claude de Nicolay are just that – at the top of their game, but flying nonetheless under the radar. Until recent years, that is…

The wines are refined, elegant and ageworthy, and the winemakers have also inspired the next generation of natural winemakers in Burgundy. The general consensus is that wines from the past 10 years, vintage after vintage, are better than ever. Is it any wonder, then, that the estate has caught the attention of top critics and wine enthusiasts alike? The estate saw prices of up to €275 at auction in 2023 for the prestigious (red) Corton Grand Cru Clos du Roi, with the reported price being for the 2017 vintage. Only three bottles of Clos du Roi were sold at auction on iDealwine last year, and just one so far in 2024, highlighting its rarity. Where prices have softened at auction across Burgundy – even prices for DRC have dropped 15% in one year, and the average price in Burgundy has fallen 35% – Chandon de Briailles has been largely unaffected.

The estate’s Savigny-lès-Beaune Premier Cru Les Lavières continues to make waves at wine tastings and to attract bidders at auction. The 2018 vintage is currently estimated at €61, an increase of 8% in the last year, which is significant in a softened market. The most recent release of 2022 Corton-Bressandes Grand Cru sells for close to €320, although it is yet to appear at auction. As the estate rightfully earns global recognition, prices are expected to increase further on the secondary market. This may come sooner rather than later as Chandon de Briailles continues to receive rave reviews from global critics and is named in wine circles as a high-quality but undervalued wine producer.

Chandon de Briailles is rated an ‘Auction Star’ on iDealwine – along with Jacques Prieur (also for Corton), Henri Boillot (Pommard), and Domaines Lafarge, Comtes Lafon, François Mikulski and Joseph Voillot (all Volnay) – meaning that it ranks as one of the most soughtafter properties at auction, and its wines have consistently sold for 15% (or more) above the price estimate.

What makes this property stand out? Without a doubt, its longstanding commitment to natural winemaking at the highest level. The current trend for high-end micro-négociants in Burgundy (Catharina Sadde’s Les Horées and Tomoko Kuriyama’s Chanterêves sell-out releases spring to mind) might lead some to believe that this is not the case, but for a very long time, natural wine was a rarity in the region.

In many respects, Chandon de Briailles paved the way for this new generation. When the brother-and-sister team took over running the estate in 2001 (as the seventh generation), they slowly reduced the use of non-natural products and earned recognition for their well-crafted wines. The use of sulphur and copper was drastically reduced.

In 2005, Domaine Chandon de Briailles was converted to biodynamics, although its certification process only began in 2008, with the wine estate obtaining Demeter certification in 2011. François de Nicolay acted as a catalyst in this change. “My experience as a wine merchant in Paris – and particularly during blind tastings (of Leflaive, for instance) – persuaded me that biodynamic wines really were better. They were more vibrant in their fruit and minerality than other wines,” he says. To speak of Chandon de Briailles’ conversion to more natural winemaking methods is not to say that prior generations weren’t on the same page – Claude de Nicolay has spoken of her mother Nadine’s long-held belief in sustainable farming, as well as her use of whole-cluster fermentation long before it was fashionable.

The estate’s present-day innovation continues in the vineyard, with the successful spraying of powdered skimmed milk as a replacement for sulphur, and orange essential oil to reduce the need for copper on the vines. Winemakers visit from near and far to see the pioneering work in action.