The domaine is founded in 1978 by Jean-Gérard Guillot toghether with his beloved wife Jacqueline Broux. The farming has been organic from the beginning and has been certified organic since 1991. They plough and use natural methods of fighting parasites, green manure, organic fertilisers (to feed the soil and not the vines), and mineral sprays with stable active molecules that leave no residues in the wines.

Respecting the soil in this way allows the vines to absorb all the elements they need to be healthy and balanced, and thus, produce healthy, balanced wines. Disease in the vines is generally due to an imbalance in nature; the domaine seeks to maintain the right balance rather than treat the consequences. “A good wine is made in the vines, not in the cellar.“

Cruzille: the birthplace of organic agriculture in Burgundy

In 1954, the parents of Jean-Gérard, Pierre and Jeannine Guillot, started the first organic vineyard in Burgundy. By conviction, and after meeting people such as Max Léglise, head of INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research) and author of several books on the subject, André Birre and Jules Chauvet, they set out on the great adventure of making organic wines.

After some years working on his family’s vineyard, the future domaine founder left to deepen his wine-making knowledge. He first worked for several years at the Domaine de la Chanal in Brouilly in the Beaujolais, then at the Domaine Bernard Michelot in Meursault.

In 1978, he returned to Cruzille, where he established the Domaine Guillot-Broux with our mother, Jacqueline (Broux is her maiden name).

Jean-Gérard was a winemaker with a profound understanding of all that this encompasses: the soil, the vines, and wine. His work in the vines was balanced by another passion: reading. At night he would pursue his interest in history, on which he read avidly. Listening to him talk about the building of cathedrals, or about Celtic culture, was enthralling.

He also loved hunting; not blind slaughter, but hunting with a deep respect for nature, with the knowledge that man is part of that nature, not separated from it.

Above all, he loved his family: his wife, his children, his grandchildren, to whom he passed on his passion, his knowledge and his land.

Emmanuel and Patrice managed together today’s domaine Guillot-Broux which has 17 hectares of vines situated in the three villages of Cruzille, Grévilly and Chardonnay, and have two appellations: Mâcon Cruzille and Mâcon Chardonnay. Most of the vineyards are on east-facing slopes on clayey limestone soil. The various geological formations give rise to different terroirs, resulting in strikingly different wines.

The nature of the soil in Cruzille particularly brings out mineral flavours, and produces wines that need a relatively long time to mature. The vineyards in Grévilly and Chardonnay tend to have deeper soil, and produce wines that, when drunk young, are often fruitier and more flattering than Cruzille wines; however, they become more complex after several years’ ageing. The wines from each vineyard are vinified separately, but only the best vineyards are selected for single vineyard cuvees.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “We did not inherit the Earth from our forefathers, we are borrowing it from our descendants.”