Biography of Alain Serveau (Red wine maker of the year 2008) by an english journalist

Enter, in 1995, Alain Serveau, as technical director. He was employed by the young’next generation’ of Bichots to raise the level of quality throughout the company. He has now been there nine years. The results from one of the Bichot estates, the Domaine du Clos Frantin in Nuits-Saint-Georges, show how successful Serveau and his team have been.

Burgundy runs in Serveau’s blood. His parents are growers in Morey-St-Denis, with 10 hectares (ha). He also toiled on the family estate for five years, but left to study at Bordeaux University (already an indication of his broad-mindedness). Serveau then worked for Edouard Delaunay, where he created the Les Jamelles wines from the Vin de Pays d’Oc. The Bichot job was very different. Serveau says: “Bichot was caught between the big houses and the little growers. They really had to improve to survive.” As far as the merchant side of business went, that meant insisting on quality. And a higher proportion of wine than ever before is now made by Bichot. Instead of buying wine, they are buying grapes for all their single vineyard wines, and for 80% of their village wines.

“You need low yields to make wines of quality”, he asserts. “It’s a change of thinking that has come with a new generation in charge”. His viticulture is basically organic, “to rediscover the character of Burgundian soils”. If it were necessary, Serveau would intervene with chemicals, but he tries to avoid them. Biodynamics interests him, but he his “not thinking in that direction” yet. Each estate has its own vineyard and winemaking teams. Serveau prefers it: “They adapt their winemaking to the different places, and add their personalities and experience. But I’m in the cuverie every day.”