As is quite common in Burgundy and small businesses everywhere, sons succeed their fathers and make every effort to improve upon the family enterprise. Laurent Pillot took over from his father when only in his mid-twenties, transforming the family from grape growers to estate-bottling domaine in one vintage. Ambitious, energetic, hard working, determined, gregarious, and yet somehow understated and humble (Laurent explains his shyness by the fact that he grew up across the street from Nöel Ramonet), Laurent Pillot has launched Domaine F. & L. Pillot into the realm of the up-and-coming superstars of Chassagne-Montrachet.

Working with a superb collection of vineyards augmented by his wife's inheritance (née Pothier), a string of great vintages, and a new modern winemaking facility on the outskirts of the village, Domaine F. & L. Pillot is producing some of the region's most exciting white and red wines. Older vines (average 40 years) and low yields, the result of his father's tireless efforts in the vines, are giving Laurent superb material for his winemaking efforts.

The whites start their fermentation in temperature-controlled (20º C) stainless steel vats and remain there until the fermentation is beginning to settle down. The wine is then decanted into oak barrels (one-third new) for the malolactic and élevage (or aging). Weekly bâtonnage (or stirring) and extended lees contact give the wine richness and structure. Bottling is generally just before the next harvest, preserving a fruit and terroir-driven wine with complexity, depth, intensity, structure and finesse, never heavy or foursquare.

Pillot's offering of whites is a wonderful cross section of 1ers Crus and Villages appellations from Chassagne and Puligny. The Puligny villages comes from a section of the lieu-dit (or vineyard) Noyer Brets, just below Bienvenues-Bâtard. The collection of Chassagne 1ers Crus are represented by the rich, honeyed Vide Bourse (adjacent to Bâtard and Criots-Bâtard), the mineral and rosemary-toned Les Vergers (mid-slope, overlooking the sun bench of the grands crus), a profound yet tightly-wound Grandes Ruchottes (high on the slope next to the marble quarry), and the earth and mushroom-toned Morgeot (from clay-dominated soils on the lower slopes near Santenay).

The winemaking for the reds has been an evolution over the last several vintages from 1993 to 1996, reaching a definitive technique with the 1997 and 1998 vintages. By lowering his Pinot Noir yields to 30-35 hectoliters per hectare, Laurent began to get the intense aromas and precise flavors he wanted. Adding a three day cold maceration in 1995 boosted extraction and aroma, as did extending the cuvaison to 18 days with fermentation building to 33ºC. Malolactic in barrel, the addition of only a portion of the press wine, and earlier bottling has made 1998 the finest yet for Pillot's reds. In spite of a healthy allocation, Pillot's wines are always among the first to disappear.