Domaine Benoit Ente
Passion and attachment to the vines patrimony and flamboyance, the elite of Puligny-Montrachet
By succession from his grandfather Camille David, Benoit Ente has a small domaine (6 hectares in total) including two Premiers Crus: Folatières “En la Richarde” and “Clos de la Truffière”, two Villages: Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet, and two Regionals: Bourgogne Chardonnay and Bourgogne Aligoté.
A part of Benoit Ente’s vineyards were planted by his grandfather in the 1950s, which has enabled Benoit to benefit from grapes from old vines. Some vineyards are younger and were planted by Benoit himself in the 1990s and 2000’s. Benoit Ente has also made heavy investments in his cellars that have helped him gain extra quality and precision for vinification and elevage.
Benoit believes in sustainable grape growing, as he maintains his soils with no usage of chemical weed killers or fertilizers.
He and his team focus a lot of effort and time, from April to July, on what we call « green works »: trellising, desuckering, docking, cropping…
The harvest date is determined with accuracy and the picking of the grapes is done by hand exclusively, and the grapes are collected in small baskets.
Benoit and his brother Arnaud are famous in Burgundy (and the world) for an early start when it comes to harvest. It is simply because first, their grapes are ripe and second, they also want to preserve the acidity, hence the freshness is contained in each grape.
Upon arrival at the winery, grapes are slowly pressed and then settled in a steel tank for 24 hours. Alcoholic and malolactic fermentation is done in oak casks. Benoit likes to mature all his wines in oak casks for 12 months. Then another 6 months in stainless steel vats. Nothing is added to the wine. Most of the time, there is no filtration – something which is quite rare for a white wine.
Benoit is at the moment, along with his brother Arnaud, the best white winemaker in the area. They both defy what it is possible to imagine in terms of purity, precision and terroir expression. Benoit’s wines strike a balance of power, richness of fruit, bright mouth-watering acidity, extract, length, complexity, purity and age ability.
