In Burgundy, some paths are carved in stone. Until 2011, Arnaud Chapuis worked the marble quarries of Comblanchien, before returning to his grandfather’s vines in the hills above Échevronne, on the edge of Pernand-Vergelesses. There he now tends a few hectares of Pinot Noir and Aligoté with a patient, elemental touch.

Years at Prieuré Roch and Chandon de Briailles sharpened his instincts and perspective, providing lessons in purity, restraint and living soils. In his own hands those principles have been carried further still, distilled into wines that feel even purer and more alive than those of his mentors.

He cultivates just a few hectares, biodynamically, with grasses left to grow tall and numerous fruit trees scattered between the rows. Everything is done by hand, yields are kept deliberately low, and in the cellar nothing is added or taken away. The results are wines of striking clarity and lift: Aligoté with cut and verve, Pinot Noir translucent and finely etched, always carried by energy and tension. Arnaud insists that wine is created outdoors, not indoors with careful farming and lively soils. His microscopic cellar merely accompanies his hard earned fruit. Each cuvée bears the name Ouverture, with labels drawn by his son Yohan: the same cover for every bottle, though the contents sing in different registers.

Arnaud guards his work closely and his minuscule production is fiercely sought-after. It took three visits before he finally decided we’d earned the right to share a small part of his life’s work (a trust we carry with deep gratitude).

To open one of his bottles is to step outside the clichés of Burgundy and into something rare: wines remembered through old vines, renewed through a vigneron’s quiet hand. An ouverture to what Burgundy can be.

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