Founded by Henri Jacqueson in 1947, succeeded by his son Paul in 1972 and joined by Paul’s daughter Marie in 2006, and more recently by his son Pierre, this domaine has long been recognised as one of the very best in the Côte Chalonnaise. They have 13 hectares of wonderfully sited vines, many of which are very old, and prune hard to reduce yields to around 35 hl/ha. They only work the vineyards manually, with very minimal vine treatments. They are one of very few producers in the village to hand-pick everything. Extremely proficient winemaking and judicious use of new oak (20% for whites and 25% for reds) make for beautifully crafted, ripe, intense, sensual wines which have the class to belie their origins.
The reds from Paul and Marie are generous, sweet, pure and accessible. They give great pleasure on release but age extremely well – as recent bottles of 1985 Rully Cloux will attest. “Chaponnières” is on quite deep clay/limestone soils, planted in 1985, and has generous, crunchy fruit.