From the Dijon Arsenal to the plateau above the city: who Bastien Gautheron d'Anost is, and how his wines bring the vineyard back to town.
Bastien Gautheron: wine comes back to Dijon, in an old powder magazine
Dijon is the capital of Burgundy, yet for years no wine was made inside the city. The last neighbourhood winegrower stopped in 2014. Bastien Gautheron was born and raised here, and he decided to start again right at home: a cellar inside the walls of the Arsenal, an old stone powder magazine with the date 1880 carved above the door, and a few vineyards on the plateau above the city.
Who Bastien is
Bastien started studying oenology at fifteen. Before making his own wine he spent years at Olivier Leflaive in Puligny-Montrachet, one of the best-known houses of the Côte de Beaune: there he learned how things work on a large scale and what the market wants. In 2019 he left to set up on his own, and 2020 is his first vintage.
The name of the house comes from the family: Anost is a village in the Morvan, his mother's homeland. The family vines were about to become available, and that was the chance to start. Today he farms small parcels of his own in Savigny-lès-Beaune and the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune, certified organic since 2017, and buys grapes from grower friends he trusts, who farm the same way. In all, about 21,000 bottles a year.
The Arsenal powder magazine
We visited him in the cellar. From the outside it is a low building of pale stone, its roof covered by trees, with an arched grey door and two bats cut into the metal. Inside: a whitewashed barrel vault, small high windows and rows of barrels. It was a military store; today it is where the wines ferment and age slowly.
In December Bastien moved back to Dijon with his family: home, cellar and vineyards are now a few minutes from each other. For a winegrower who does almost everything with his own hands, that matters.
Massal selection: keeping the acidity
The heart of his work is massal selection of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Aligoté: vines propagated from old vineyards rather than nursery clones. In the red Bourgogne Dijon he blends two different selections. About a quarter comes from a 1990s selection, made when Burgundy was chasing ripeness: small berries, lots of concentration. The rest is a fresher, juicier selection.
The reasoning is simple: today ripeness comes every year; what needs protecting is acidity. He picks the Pinot Fin, an old Pinot Noir variety, eight days before the rest and keeps it as whole bunches; when he harvests the others, he adds it to the vat as it is. In the glass you can feel the whole bunch, but it never covers the fruit.
Bourgogne Dijon: two vineyards, one city
Bourgogne Dijon is the wine that best tells the story of the project. In 2023 and 2024 it came from a single high parcel on the Dijon plateau. With 2025 a second vineyard arrives, a little lower, on whiter, more clay-rich marl. The first gives tension and precision, the second volume: together they find balance.
In the cellar Bastien calls himself pragmatic, not "natural": native yeasts, short macerations so as not to over-extract, some whole bunch in the reds, very little new oak, 228 and 350-litre barrels. Few interventions, but well thought out.
From Aligoté to Premier Cru
The range runs from the Aligoté "Le Bien Urbain" and the Bouzeron from Les Bouchines, one of the highest parcels in the village, up to Ladoix 1er Cru Les Gréchons, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Lavières, Marsannay Au Quartier, Gevrey-Chambertin and Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru La Garenne. Different wines with the same thread: clean fruit, lively acidity, oak kept in the background.
In Italy with Wild Vigneron
We distribute Bastien's wines in Italy, for private customers on our shop and for restaurants. We chose him for the way he works and for the Dijon project, which we follow closely vintage after vintage.
Bastien in Lenna: Lunedì del Vigneron, 23 November
On Monday 23 November Bastien comes to see us in Lenna, at Agriturismo Ferdy, for an out-of-season Lunedì del Vigneron: our evenings with the winegrowers we import, usually held in the garden during the summer. This time we are indoors, in the Sala Mercatorum, with two sessions.
10:45, masterclass for trade professionals. For restaurateurs, sommeliers and wine shops. Please confirm with Simone, our sales manager, on WhatsApp or by phone: +39 350 195 7380.
18:00, tasting open to everyone. Six glasses, three whites and three reds, including two Premier Crus and a preview of Bourgogne Dijon 2025, plus a small snack. Bastien tells the story of each wine and is happy to take questions. It lasts about an hour and a half.
Book online on the agriturismo website: agriturismoferdy.com, Lunedì del Vigneron with Bastien Gautheron, using the Book button (in the booking screen choose "Lunedì del Vigneron" from the drop-down at the top). After the tasting you are welcome to stay for dinner at the restaurant: book a table.
