Thierry Glantenay I have following since his 2006 vintage which was just four years after his first vintage solo in 2002. He made 1999-2001 together with his father Bernard Thierry and Marie-Neige have two young daughters and live in the Glantenay family home on the Volnay’s Rue de Vaut which is the highest street in Volnay after the village and has an impressive and expansive view of the appellation below. In fact just below them is the Marquis d’Angerville’s 1er Cru vineyard ‘Clos des Ducs’. The winemaking equipment that Thierry inherited was functional but it was getting old and Thierry, from 2008 invested everything he had into a new press, tanks, peristaltic pumps and two ‘tables de tri’ including a vibrating table to optimise sorting. In late 2015 he built a fully restored cellar underneath his house, the final piece in the puzzle in his quest for quality. He know has the best equipment and a great, functional space to produce wine. My view is that from 2015 and onwards, his wines truly shine.
It is established that the very greatest wines in Burgundy are made by growers not by Negociants. Negociants can't control enough in the vines to reach the real pinnacle and many buy nearly finished wine. Some make excellent wine, it is true, but it because they are talented winemakers.
The greatest Burgundies are made by those who are equally talented winemakers (or perhaps better) but who also own and farm their vines; working hard and with the intuition and counsel of the past generation(s) - it is the genesis of skill both in the vines and in the cellar that produces the best. Thierry is a talented winemaker and farms the family vines; the results are in the glass.
-William Kelley is the new reviewer at the Wine Advocate.
