Domaine Billard Père et Fils

Domaine Billard Père et Fils is based in La Rochepot, a small village in the hills around 13 kilometres south of Beaune. The estate was founded in 1930 by Louis Billard, a mixed farmer who raised working horses for the vineyards of the Côte d’Or while tending a handful of his own parcels. At that stage, the entire harvest was sold as grapes.

Bottling began on a modest scale during the 1960s under Louis’s son Michel. When Jérôme Billard joined the domaine in 1993, he gradually moved away from mixed farming and placed vineyards at the centre of the business. Today, the estate extends to around 28 hectares, with holdings across the Hautes-Côtes and villages including Saint-Romain, Auxey-Duresses, Saint-Aubin, Beaune, Pommard, Santenay and Chassagne-Montrachet.

Under Jérôme, farming has shifted towards organic and biodynamic principles, with chemicals removed, cover crops encouraged and several parcels worked by horse. Harvesting is carried out by hand and the entire production is now bottled at the estate. It is an ambitious domaine, but one still closely connected to the quieter, agricultural Burgundy from which it emerged.