Domaine Albert Morot

Maison Morot’s history dates back to the early 19th century. In 1820, Philibert Jacques Angélique Morot began selling wine from his vineyard, shipped by horse-drawn carriage. In 1860, he was joined by his two sons, Simon (based in Rouen, then a major commercial hub) and Albert (based in Beaune).

In 1880, Albert – then aged 50 – continued the business on his own, under his name: Albert Morot. This name was kept by his only daughter, Berthe, and his son-in-law, Louis Jean Blanlot.

The Domaine has flourished on family members’ hand. However, during the war in 1940, the wine was requisitioned for sale to the Germans. The Château was also occupied for a few days by the German occupation troops. The post-war years were difficult. Wine consumption was very low. Faced with financial difficulties, the domaine was forced to sell 2 hectares (5 acres) of vines.

Until 1952, Guy Choppin, great grandchild of Albert, took over the running of the estate at the age of 23 and sales gradually recovered. In 1984, Françoise, Guy’s sister took over and immediately stopped the negotiant business to concentrate totally on her own production. She positively changed the quality of all the production and developed the export business, which had been started after the first World War.

In 2000, her great-nephew, Geoffroy Choppin de Janvry, continued the quality programme introduced by his aunt. To obtain grapes of the highest possible quality, this agronomist implemented a full range of approaches, including working the vines, green harvesting and thinning leaves, double sorting during harvesting to reduce interventions in the winery to a minimum.

After a number of successful trials, Geoffroy switched to organic farming methods. He produced his first certified vintage in 2015.