Etienne de Montille

Etienne de Montille personifies the Domaine de Montille, the celebrated estate in Volnay whose origins date back to the 1750s. The renown of the family name is of course due to Hubert de Montille, Etienne’s father, who rebuilt the estate from scratch starting in 1947, the vintage in which he first understood that he would only produce wines he loved “and not those of others”. That passion for the Burgundian identity and the distinctiveness of terroirs would be passed on to his son, Etienne de Montille. After initially studying to become a lawyer –as family tradition demanded – the lure of the exotic would finally get the better of him, taking him all the way to San Francisco where worked at a number of odd jobs, including bartender at Chez Panisse. Yet it was this time abroad that finally made him realise how fortunate he really was, and that his destiny was to return to the family estate. Since taking charge of vinification in 1990 and becoming co-manager in 1995, Etienne has proved himself a worthy successor, converting the estate to organic and then biodynamic farming in 2005. Without question, the same ideals upheld by his father before him are today what guides Etienne: authenticity, aromatic purity and elegance.