Château de Charodon

Located just five minutes from Beaune, Château de Charodon is the project of Louis Vallet, his brother Thibault and their father, Bernard. The Vallet family is from Gevrey-Chambertin, where Bernard is still part-owner of the successful Pierre Bourrée estate. However, Louis decided to take a different direction. For many years, he lived the life of the flying winemaker, making two vintages each year: one in Burgundy and one in the Southern Hemisphere. He picked up experience from the likes of Pascal Marchand. He made his first vintage at Ch. de Charadon – a grand total of 1,200 bottles – in 2010. By 2021, he was producing more than 10 times this volume. While Louis stands to inherit several hectares from the family holdings, these are presently rented out on long term contracts; the production currently comes from a mix of bought-in fruit and farming contracts. This is a hugely exciting project which we are delighted to be a part of.

Louis’ production is growing quickly to keep up with demand, and he has made 42,000 bottles this year. The biggest struggle is perhaps renovating the buildings around the château to make more space for tanks and barrels. While he is always optimistic, Louis is clearly much happier with the 2022 vintage than the ‘21s. Last year, he was missing several cuvées because he couldn’t get hold of fruit, but ’22 has allowed him to make the full range of wines, and add a couple of new lines. In both colours, Louis has made the kind of wines that he likes; forward, fruit-driven and generous. Like him, these wines wear their heart on their sleeve.