Winery THILLARDON

Initially, there is Paul-Henri Thillardon who, at only 22 years old, moved to Chénas and set up his own Winery. Originally from the Southern Beaujolais (the famous country of the Golden Stones) and son of winemaker, Paul-Henri is steeped in wine. After a 'Bac pro viti-oeno' and a few years of hesitation, he left to set up his own business in 2008 in Chénas, a Cru that was then abandoned by the Burgundy wine merchants. Right from the start, it's a hard job! Against the current of what is happening around here, Paul-Henri started to work in organic farming and put forward plots with very specific terroirs through his vintages. At first, he works vines in sharecropping before buying Winery of Chassignol (Chénas) in 2012. In addition to his vines, he has been cultivating a few ares on the Chiroubles side since 2010, as well as 2 ha in Moulin-à-Vent and a small area in Beaujolais on his homeland "Les Pierres Dorées". The Winery is becoming a family business and is gradually expanding with the arrival of his brother Charles in 2014 and their little brother Jean-Baptiste in 2017. Then comes Aude, the eldest of the family in 2018. The Winery is now called Thillardon and no longer Paul Henri-Thillardon. It now covers nearly 14 hectares with 4 climates on Chénas: Les Blémonts, Les Boccards, Les Carrières and Chassignol.

The vineyard is worked in organic agriculture, with some ploughing and natural grassing. Some of the vines are worked by horse, notably the very steep plot of Chassignol, in Chénas, which adjoins the winery. In the winery, the Thillardon brothers are very curious and have already tried several ways of vinifying their plots to find the best way to express their terroirs. Although they are attached to carbonic macerations, most of the vinification is done with a de-stemmed harvest for the "flagship" vintages of Winery. Fermentations are carried out using indigenous yeasts and the wines are unfiltered and have very little sulphites at bottling. Maturing is mainly carried out in concrete tanks. The result is truly impressive in terms of finesse and complexity! With always a beautiful expression of Gamay on the juice. Fleshy and elegant wines, concentrated, with a freshness on the mineral. Wines for laying down, which should be decanted in their youth. Thillardon, the revival of Chénas!