Winemaker
Maxime Cottenceau
Winemaker, Domaine Maxime Cottenceau
- Discipline
- Winemaker
- Based in
- Montagny, France
i. Biography
In Buxy, south of Givry, the Côte Chalonnaise register is built through restraint: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Aligoté read through slope, season, and cellar rather than through force. At Domaine Maxime Cottenceau, where Maxime Cottenceau has been winemaker since 2018, the work sits inside a grower lineage that moved from vine-growing into bottles carrying the family name. The craft is practical before it is expressive. Chardonnay provides line and texture, Pinot Noir gives fragrance and shape, and Aligoté brings brightness and nerve. In Cottenceau’s hands, those varieties form the working vocabulary for Buxy and the Côte Chalonnaise: repeated observation in the vineyard, measured decisions in the cellar, and a clear refusal of spectacle.
The Ascent
Viticulture and oenology in Beaune gave Maxime Cottenceau a Burgundy foundation built on soil, vine, cellar, and close observation. The value of that training is its structure: technique learned as a discipline, with detail treated as part of the work rather than as decoration. Apprenticeship in Rully placed the craft inside a domaine rhythm. As a trainee with Vincent Dureuil-Janthial at Domaine Dureuil-Janthial in Rully, Burgundy, France, Cottenceau worked within a village tradition where timing, handling, élevage, and judgment carry weight across a vintage. The learning was practical: fruit, cellar decisions, patience, and consistency. The move into an owned domaine made that training accountable. As founder and winemaker of Domaine Maxime Cottenceau since 2018, Cottenceau applies a Burgundy grower’s discipline to wines released under his own family name.
Current Practice
Since 2018, the winemaking at Domaine Maxime Cottenceau in Buxy, France, has been tied to a specific Côte Chalonnaise setting. Cottenceau also runs Domaine Cottenceau in the Côte Chalonnaise, Burgundy, France. In this part of Burgundy, identity is built through parcels, grape variety, and the accumulation of seasonal decisions rather than through a single gesture. The domaine’s working materials are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Aligoté. Those varieties define the range: white, red, and the brisk line of Aligoté. For Cottenceau, they are the means of interpreting Buxy and the Côte Chalonnaise through established Burgundy grammar. The current role joins cellar responsibility with family transition. As winemaker, Cottenceau is responsible for wines carrying the family name; beginning in 2018, he turned a grower lineage into a bottled domaine. Each vintage therefore has two jobs: to answer to the agricultural and cellar work of the year, and to define the domaine’s authorship with precision.
Standing
The verified milestones are professional and craft-based: study in Beaune, three years at Domaine Dureuil-Janthial, and current work at Domaine Maxime Cottenceau in Buxy since 2018. The sequence is clear: formal viticulture and oenology training, apprenticeship in Rully, Burgundy, France, and the establishment of a personal domaine in Buxy, France, working from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Aligoté in the Côte Chalonnaise.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Maxime
Where did Maxime Cottenceau train or study?
Maxime Cottenceau studied viticulture and oenology in Beaune.
What is Maxime Cottenceau known for?
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Aligoté.
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