Château Thivin is the oldest estate on the Mont de Brouilly dating back to 1383(!) when the first part of what was to become the Château Thivin was built. The domaine is now run by the Geoffray family, the sixth generation Claude-Edouard having come aboard in 2007. Farming of these 55 yr old (average) vines is impeccable here with almost everything done by hand from pruning, plowing and canopy management to harvest. Considering the 48% slope of the vineyard, this is actually sort of a dangerous undertaking. 

Winemaking is very traditional with hand harvested fruit transported to the cellars in small baskets where the whole bunches are fermented on native yeasts. After a gentle pressing, the wines are transferred to giant oak foudres of between 2,000 and 4,000 liters, some of them over a hundred years old, where they mature and settle for 6-8 months before bottling.  The cellars here are reminiscent of traditional Barolo cellars bearing no resemblance at all to the gleaming, modern, stainless steel tank lined cellars so common in this far southern corner of Burgundy.