Antoine Lienhardt
🍷 Antoine Lienhardt — Burgundy with a light touch
Some winemakers shout, others whisper. Antoine Lienhardt belongs firmly to the second group. Based in Comblanchien, right in the heart of the Côte de Nuits, he started out with barely a hectare and a lot of nerve, and has quietly built one of the most exciting young domaines in Burgundy. If you like reds that feel weightless but still say something, you're going to get on very well with these bottles.
📍 A corner of the Côte de Nuits worth knowing
Comblanchien sits between Nuits-Saint-Georges and Corgoloin, in a stretch of the Côte that gets far less attention than its famous neighbours — which is exactly why the wines are still a joy to buy. The limestone here is famously hard (it's quarried for building stone), and those stony, well-drained soils give the wines a clean, mineral backbone. Add the slopes, the eastern exposure and the cool Burgundian nights, and you get fruit that ripens slowly and keeps its freshness.
🍇 The grapes in the glass
Pinot Noir does most of the talking. Antoine works with whole bunches, gentle extraction and very little new oak, so you get crunchy red cherry, rose petal and that savoury, earthy edge that only good Burgundy delivers. On the white side, Chardonnay brings citrus, white flowers and a chalky finish, while Aligoté — long overlooked, now rightly celebrated — gives bright, zippy wines with real character and a lovely salty snap.
🌿 Vineyard first, cellar second
The work happens outside: organic farming, careful ploughing, low yields and grapes picked at the right moment rather than the convenient one. In the cellar, the approach is deliberately hands-off — native yeasts, minimal sulphur, no heavy-handed corrections. The result is wine that tastes alive, with transparency to the vintage and the plot it came from.
🥂 How to enjoy them
Serve the reds slightly cool — around 15°C — with roast poultry, mushroom dishes or a simple charcuterie board. The Aligoté is brilliant with oysters, goat's cheese or just a sunny afternoon. Most bottles drink beautifully young, but give the village and premier cru reds a few years and they'll reward you handsomely.
✨ Why you'll want a bottle
Honest prices, serious winemaking and a style that's fresh, pure and genuinely drinkable. Antoine Lienhardt is the kind of producer collectors whisper about before everyone catches on — so now's a very good moment to fill your cellar.