Chassagne-Montrachet
Ex Nihilo.
by Morgane & Alban Desazars
Ex Nihilo is one of Burgundy’s newest names to watch.
Founded by Morgane and Alban Desazars, this young house brings Champagne polish to Côte d’Or terroir. They may be recent arrivals, but their journey runs deep. Alban works directly in the vines, guiding the raw material from soil to cellar. Morgane brings sharp vision and precision. Together, they craft single-plot wines with patience, instinct, and a touch of daring – miniscule volumes, but big character.
From Champagne to Burgundy
For Alban, wine is about “immersing yourself in the terroir to cultivate the most beautiful grapes” and from that devotion the wines take shape. Talking with him reveals a rare intimacy with the soils and the quirks of each plot, knowledge built vine by vine, row by row. The quantities are tiny, but the care is absolute. Ex Nihilo’s wines are vineyard obsessions bottled.
If you’re going crazy trying to keep up with Burgundy’s new wave, and you crave classic, hedonistic Chardonnay with rich fruit, crackling acid, and just a hint of struck match... Ex Nihilo is your next fix.
A MATTER OF PASSION, PATIENCE AND INSTINCT
The Winemaking
Winemaking at Ex Nihilo is deliberately gentle and precise. Grapes are hand-harvested into small 13–15 kg boxes to protect the fruit, then pressed gradually at low pressure to ensure a pure, continuous juice flow. Fermentations begin spontaneously with native yeasts, guided rather than forced, and the wines are moved by gravity alone. Ageing takes place in a balance of thermoregulated stainless steel vats and oak barrels, allowing each cuvée to find its own expression with minimal intervention.
DEEP DIVE
The 2024 VintaGE
For Ex Nihilo, 2024 was a testing year, but ultimately a rewarding one. Record rainfall and constant humidity made for a challenging growing season, with coulure (failure of grape flowers to develop) and mildew taking a heavy toll on yields. Harvest stretched from 11 September to 1 October, carried out with meticulous care to preserve quality.
Volumes are tiny, but the wines are a revelation: fine, balanced, and full of energy. For an estate in only its second vintage, 2024 will be remembered not for its struggles, but for the character and elegance that emerged against the odds.
WHY WE’RE EXCITED…
What struck us immediately on our visit was Alban’s passion for the pressoir, the wine press. In Champagne, where Morgane and Alban hail from, pressing is a constant topic of conversation. In Burgundy? Much less so. Here, many winemakers simply run a pre-set programme and head straight to full pressure. Not at Ex Nihilo.
Instead, Alban begins at a whisper of pressure, just 0.25 bar, about the same as pressing a piano key, and lets the juice flow slowly for 2 to 3 hours, only gradually building to around 1.25 bar. At every stage, he tastes the juice, just as in Champagne, stopping at the precise moment when purity and balance are at their peak.
“Low intervention” and “natural” are buzzwords these days, but with Morgane and Alban you feel it’s lived, not marketed. Their approach is instinctive, precise, and patient. The results in the glass? Wines of concentration, minerality, and tension, alive, expressive, and impossible to ignore.
That’s why we’re excited. These are wines you need to taste to truly understand.
Ben, Jen & Callum
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