Domaine Olivier Guyot

MARSANNAY · CÔTE DE NUITS · BURGUNDY · BIODYNAMIC · EST. 1990

Marsannay sits at the northern gateway of the Côte de Nuits — the first village you reach on the famous Route des Grands Crus heading south from Dijon. It is also the only appellation in Burgundy that produces red, white, and rosé under the same village name. And it is here that Olivier Guyot has been quietly making some of the most compelling biodynamic Burgundy in the region since 1990.

The Guyot family has farmed these lands for generations. Olivier took sole charge of the domaine in 1990, inheriting 15 hectares of vines spread across 14 appellations — from village Marsannay all the way up to Grand Cru parcels in Clos de la Roche, Clos Saint-Denis, and Clos Vougeot. The vines average 45 years old. Some plots are considerably older.

What sets Olivier apart is how he farms. Since 1998 he has applied biodynamic principles across the estate — and crucially, he sold his tractor. Entirely. His vineyards are ploughed by carthorse, the traditional way, because he believes it produces better fruit and better soil health. His neighbors thought him eccentric. His wines proved them wrong.

In the cellar, grapes are hand-harvested and sorted meticulously, fermented with natural yeasts, punched down by hand during the 14-day maceration, aged in older barrels to preserve fruit purity, and bottled without filtration. The philosophy inherited from his grandfather: no great wine without quality grapes. Everything else follows from there.

Elected best young hope of Burgundy by the Revue des Vins de France in 2000, Olivier Guyot remains one of the Côte de Nuits' most underappreciated estates — serious terroir-driven wines at prices that haven't yet caught up with the quality.

"There is no great wine without quality grapes." — Olivier Guyot