ABOUT THE PRODUCER: The domaine dates back to Virgile's grandfather, Maurice. along with his brothers George and Henri. These were the days of polyculture. and the grapes went through the local co-op. Maurice père was joined by Maurice fils in 1960, the latter planting 1.80ha of En la Rue de Vergy in 1974. The Michelot suffix refers to Virgile's mother, a native of the Haut-Marne and not related to the Burgundians of the same name. Virgile arrived in 1988 and began bottling a bit in '89. Then, when bulk prices collapsed in the early 1990s, he bottled much more and soon began exporting. He took over from his father in 1999, started to plough and devised different pruning methods. He likes a long cane, but with every second bud rubbed out. In 2000 he set up a mini-négociant alongside, in order to buy his aunt's share of the crop; to this he has added a few local contracts, in some cases doing the vineyard work. He now has a new cellar by his home in the lower part of the village, which must make the practicalities much easier to manage. Virgile has been steadily refining his style, from destemming to incorporating a percentage of whole bunches - and then to a much higher proportion in recent warmer vintages. Several of his 2019s were made without any destemming. Thirty per cent new wood is used across the whole Lignier-Michelot cellar. Jasper Morris MW, Inside Burgundy