Head to Burgundy, and you’re going to want to meet (and taste the wines) of Benoît Kilian at Domaine de la Côtelette. In the meantime, he’s got a great story…

Benoît is a musician who sold wine for 15 years, was part of organizing the natural wine fair “Les Reunions Tu Peux R’Boire,” and was overall dedicated to sharing the wines of others. But when Guy Bussière came knocking on his door, Benoît jumped on the incredible opportunity he saw in the land and purchased his vines on a whim! The 2 hectare vineyard surrounded by nothing but woods and orchards needed reworking and would have disappeared, but Benoît saw such potential in the completely chemical free vineyard, since its oldest vines planted in 1919. Just like that, La Côtelette was born. Today Benoît farms pinot noir, gamay, chardonnay, aligoté, and melon de bourgogne organically and practices biodynamics as well. In the cellar, it’s strictly grapes as far as ingredients go, indigenous yeasts only, and no filtering – this is the only way Benoît can envision wine to be made! In fact, he learned from some greats: Romuald Valot and Marc Soyard, and the result is some fantastic, alive, and delicious Burgundies.