At A Glance
- Field
- Detail
- Base
- Meursault
- Vineyard area
- 24 acres
- Named Meursault sites
- Les Tillets, Narvaux, En L'Ormeau, Genevrières, and Le Cailleret
- Appellations
- Côte de Beaune appellations
- Defining practice
- Many vineyard plots bottled separately
The Producer
Domaine Boyer-Martenot is based in Meursault, where Vincent Boyer bottles many village vineyard plots separately instead of blending them together. The separate bottlings place vineyard names directly on labels across the range.
Place
Meursault is the domaine's home, and the family also reaches into Puligny Montrachet through Juliette Devèze, who was born and raised in the adjoining village. The range includes a Puligny premier cru Cailleret acquired in 1997 from Domaine Chartron. Meursault bottlings and premier cru sites therefore sit alongside one another within the domaine's Côte de Beaune portfolio.
Soil And Site
Altitude and soil divide the Meursault sites. Higher altitude vineyards such as Narvaux produce lively mineral fruit with citrus zest and crushed stone. En L'Ormeau has velvety weight and suppleness from its clay soils, while clay rich Genevrières has a deeply silky, plush texture.
Story
After World War II, André Boyer inherited the domaine from his mother Lucie, who had been running the winery entirely by herself. Yves Boyer married Marie Cécile Martenot, the daughter of a winemaker in Meursault, and continued the family line. Vincent Boyer assumed independent control in 2002 after deciding that working with his father was not a good idea. Vincent Boyer is the fourth generation in this family line.
Vineyards And Cellar
Farming is sustainable, with pesticides and herbicides avoided and harvest done exclusively by hand. The grapes are pressed and fermented naturally with indigenous yeasts in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks. Since the 2017 vintage, neutral cement eggs have been part of the ageing regime before the wines move into oak casks. The bottles are unfined and unfiltered. Cement adds no oak flavour during the first stage, while oak casks provide later wood contact and oxygen exposure associated with barrel ageing.
Wines
The named Meursault wines include Les Tillets, Narvaux, En L'Ormeau, Genevrières, and Le Cailleret. Genevrières and Meursault Le Cailleret are premier cru bottlings. Meursault Le Cailleret warrants cellaring and reveals complexity with time.
In The Glass
Meursault Les Tillets brings wildflowers, fresh nuts, and oyster shells, with intense minerality from chalk dominant soils. The wines remain on extended lees before bottling immediately before the next harvest, a cellar period that can add breadth and savoury depth. Unfined and unfiltered bottling can preserve a fuller mouthfeel and the fine solids that contribute to texture.
A Bottle To Understand It
Choose Meursault Les Tillets first. It is one of the domaine's separately bottled Meursault vineyard wines, with the vineyard name carried directly on the label. The bottle keeps the focus on one named plot before the range moves to other Meursault sites and premier cru wines.
Anecdote
After three or four years working together, Vincent and Sylvie Boyer decided that it was difficult to speak for both companies. They split the operations. Sylvie founded Maison Sylvie Boyer as a separate négociant business, producing about 6,000 bottles a year. Vincent continued with Domaine Boyer-Martenot. The new arrangement put Sylvie's wines under her own company name and left the domaine under Vincent's independent control. The decision followed a family working partnership and ended with two named wine businesses.
Final Word
Domaine Boyer-Martenot holds vineyards across Côte de Beaune appellations, bottles many plots separately, and ages the wines through neutral cement eggs followed by oak casks.