Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey

It may be surprising but there are not all that many wine producers in the most traditional villages of Bordeaux and Burgundy who are passionate about the wines from the rest of the world. The majority tend to concentrate their tasting experiences on the wines of their own vineyards and those of their neighbors. Foreign wines, by which I mean those made outside their native region, are an occasional curiosity rather than a passion.

Pierre-Yves Colin of Chassagne-Montrachet is a notable exception to that rule. The son of the revered Marc Colin of St-Aubin, whose white burgundies have been hugely admired, freely admits, "Wine is my main passion. I taste everything. Austrian wine, Oregon, Bordeaux. It's what I do." This would not be such a strange admission for a wine lover living in London or New York, but for a producer of white burgundy based in one of Burgundy's most famous wine villages it is almost heretical to admit, "I love Riesling. Riesling is the model for me. Trimbach's Clos Ste Hune 1990 from Alsace in particular." In his time this 35 year-old has worked at Wolf Blass in Australia, Chalk Hill in California, Ferraton in the Rhône Valley, St Chinian in Languedoc and Vacheron of Sancerre.

He is clearly deeply devoted to his new wine business Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey. He made wine at the family Domaine Marc Colin from 2001 but began to strain under the family yoke, increasingly wanting to do things his own way. Eventually, after the 2005 vintage, his father carefully carved the Domaine Marc Colin vineyards into four equal parts and had Pierre-Yves, his two brothers and one sister pick them out of a hat. The foundation for the Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey was born. 

The Morey in Colin-Morey comes from his wife Caroline- being a member of the admired Morey clan, the daughter of another Chassagne-Montrachet producer, Jean-Marc Morey. She still works at his domaine as well as with her husband. Burgundian names are notoriously complicated but this one is certainly auspicious.

Like many of Burgundy's more ambitious younger wine producers, Pierre-Yves has eschewed the traditional route of vinifying only the grapes he grows himself. Instead, he buys in about 30 % of production. He doesn't show on the label which are his grapes and which wines are made from bought in grapes. "I want to make wines as good from bought-in grapes as from my own vineyards. And some of my bought grapes are better than my own. I know everyone in Chassagne-Montrachet. I want to work for the next 30 years. So I can't afford to make a mistake. Every winter I sell off some wines I'm not happy with, both from my domaine and from bought-in grapes."

When asked about his studies, he allowed, "I did a qualification, but I think it's more important that I'm in love with wine. We're lucky in Burgundy because we can't fabricate anything. We have the vine varieties, the weather, the terroirs – it's all here. And it's great to be small and working only for me. I have only one employee. I count myself as the second."