A family history since 1834

History

In the ownership of the same family since 1834, the Domaine Chandon de Briailles currently belongs to the Count and Countess Aymard-Claude de Nicolay and their children.

History continued....

The Count inherited it from his grandmother, Countess Chandon de Briailles, herself related to the famous champagne house of Moët et Chandon.

The Domain Today

Situated four kilometres north of Beaune in Côte d'Or, the domain is in the northern area of the Côte de Beaune in the famous Burgundian vineyard.

Its surface extends over 13.7 hectares (34 acres) shared equally amongst the three villages of Savigny-lès-Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses and Aloxe-Corton.

Numbers and references

The Domain produces on average 50,000 bottles per year, of which 60% are exported.

Its main markets are Great Britain, United States, Japan, Benelux, Korea, Quebec, Italy, Norway and Australia.

In France, the wines grace the tables of the great names of our gastronomy, such as:

L'AMBROISIE, PIERRE GAGNAIRE, SENDERENS, LE BRISTOL, GUY SAVOY, LE PETIT NICE, CHABICHOU, L'OULETTE, L'ASTRANCE, CHEZ MARIUS ET JANETTE...

The wines are also found at some good wine cellars...

CAVES ESTEVE, DRUGSTORE PUBLICIS, LES GRANDES CAVES DE CLICHY, L'AMBASSADE DE BOURGOGNE, APPELLATION & CO...

Not forgetting their faithful clientele of private buyers.

In New York, the wines are also served in major restaurants, such as:

CORTON, JEAN-GEORGES, DANIEL BOULUD and at wine cellars CHAMBERS STREET, SHERRY LEHMANN, ASTOR WINES ...

The Domaine Chandon de Briailles is part of the association "Les Domaines Familiaux de Tradition” which numbers 28 domains amongst the most prestigious in Burgundy.

A family business

In the family since 1834, the Domaine Chandon de Briailles was taken up in 1982 in the expert hands of Nadine de Nicolay. Through relentless hard work she managed to revive, to general agreement, the letters of nobility of the wines of the estate.

A family business continued...

Today, her children, Claude and François de Nicolay, manage the estate together. Coming from very different professional backgrounds, they share the same passion: vine and wine.

Both have received a strong "transmission" of inheritance and savoir-faire on the lands of their mother. In charge of the Domain since 2001, their complementarity is a major asset.

The Main Actors

Claude de Nicolay

Born in 1967, Claude underwent training in viticulture in Beaune and oenology in Dijon. A graduate in technical oenology, she did winemaking training in Oregon (1992) and in New Zealand (1994). She joined the Domain in 1991 and created her own oenological laboratory then to be able to manage the analytical tracking of their wines.

François de Nicolay

Born in 1970, François is a graduate of Higher Business School (ESC). After various commercial experiences in Spain, the United States and Hong Kong, he undertook a winemaking course in 1996 in a large winery in Oregon. A lover of French vineyards, François opened a distribution agency and a shop in Paris where he distributed the wines of the family domain as well as numerous wines from other French domains. In 2001, he left the capital city to pick up the torch at the family domain in conjunction with his sister and, in 2005, introduced bio-dynamics to the domain.

The Duo

At the domain, tasks are shared and all decisions - notably those concerning vinification - are taken together. Team management, looking after the vines and a part of commercialisation are the responsibility of François, analysis and tracking of wines in cellar are the responsibility of Claude who also looks after certain export customers.

Teamwork

The domain also includes a team of six people working together all year round. These are employees steeped in the house spirit, to which some have been faithful for more than 20 years. They are fully conversant with their manual work in the vines, as also with that of the cellar.