Region: Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits AOC, Côte de Nuits, Burgundy, France

Varietal: 100% Pinot Noir

Producer: To understand why François Millet's name on a label matters, you need to know where he spent the previous 33 years of his career. From 1986 to 2019, Millet served as cellar master and winemaker at Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé — the legendary Chambolle-Musigny estate that controls the majority of Le Musigny Grand Cru, widely considered one of the greatest vineyards on earth. When he retired from Vogüé, he didn't stop — he started over. In 2017, Millet launched his own domaine with his sons Julien and Adrien, operating out of the cellar beneath his home in Chambolle-Musigny, directly across the street from the Musigny vineyard itself. Production is tiny, the setup is unashamedly garagiste, and the wines are among the most quietly thrilling new releases in Burgundy.

Vineyard & Winemaking: Les Martennes comes from the Segrois lieu-dit in the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits — a west-facing hillside site at 350 meters elevation, planted on clay-rich, stony soils that lend the wine a darker-fruited character and more structural weight than you'd expect from this appellation. In the cellar, Millet's approach is defined by restraint: 100% destemming, spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel, and no extraction beyond gentle pump-overs — no oak, no manipulation, no shortcuts. The philosophy is filigree and purity above all else, which makes complete sense coming from the man who spent three decades coaxing greatness out of Chambolle's most precious ground.

Tasting Notes: The 2022 opens with a perfumed, mineral nose — crushed rock and dark red fruit with a cool, spicy edge reminiscent of Marsannay or Fixin, the more structured northern end of the Côte de Nuits. On the palate it's dense and juicy at once, with blueberry and blackberry fruit carrying real energy and freshness through to a finish that's long, crunchy, and mineral. For a Hautes-Côtes, the structure here is striking — this is a wine that punches well above its appellation and asks to be taken seriously. Which, given who made it, shouldn't surprise anyone.