Nicolas Bernard

The Climb

White Burgundy at Domaine Bernard-Bonin has been built through repeated seasonal judgment rather than abrupt change. Since 1998, Nicolas Bernard has been a winemaker / vintner team member with Véronique Bonin of Domaine Bernard-Bonin, working in Meursault through the same practical cycle that defines the craft: observing soils, reading each vintage, harvesting by hand, and adjusting cellar decisions to what the year gives. Place remains the working unit. Within the scale of Domaine Bernard-Bonin, Bernard has helped shape an approach in which Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet are handled through farming, time and close cellar observation. The wines move through hand harvest, barrel-by-barrel vinification and long élevage, with each cuvée allowed to find its own balance of freshness, richness, mineral tension and vibrancy.

Today

The present production is focused on White Burgundy from Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet, including Meursault Premier Cru and Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru vineyards. Its white Burgundies include some of Meursault’s finest wines, with a style described as fresh, rich, mineral and vibrant: breadth held against precision, and ripeness kept in conversation with lift. Farming at Domaine Bernard-Bonin uses biodynamic principles to maintain grape health and reach full ripeness quickly in Meursault. Bernard and Bonin describe the farming style as Lutte Integree, combining biodynamic, organic and lutte raisonnée methods, with choices made according to vintage conditions while intervening as little as possible. The framework is not a fixed recipe; it is a disciplined way of deciding when action is needed and when it is not. The estate hand-harvests, respects lunar phases and uses minimal intervention in the cellar. Vinification is monitored barrel by barrel to determine the optimum exchange between wine and lees, keeping texture and balance under direct observation. The wines receive long élevage of 15–18 months; racking takes place just before bottling to avoid fining and filtration. Bottling is synchronized with the lunar calendar and never done on a leaf day, carrying the same farming logic into the final cellar decision.

In Their Words “We like that it gives a good representation of the ensemble of Genevrières.”

Recognition

Certification gives the farming record a clear edge: seven hectares were certified AB and Demeter as of the 2021 vintage. The domaine’s practices also carry the categories Sustainable, Organic (Ecocert), Biodynamic (Demeter), and Vegan, placing its vineyard and cellar work within recognized systems for soil health, grape health and low-intervention handling. The named cuvées map the sites without overcomplication. La Romance combines Puligny Montrachet La Garenne Premier Cru and Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatières Premier Cru, setting two Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru identities side by side. La Rencontre combines Meursault Les Pelles and Meursault Sous La Velle, drawing its form from the meeting of those Meursault sites. Meursault Genevrières Premier Cru is assembled from plots in Dessus, which give tonic, lively and spicy character, and Dessous, which give a buttery, richer, more gourmand character. Bernard’s comment on the cuvée — “We like that it gives a good representation of the ensemble of Genevrières.” — is a practical statement of the method at Domaine Bernard-Bonin: multiple parcels, kept legible, brought into one account of place.