{"id":24481,"date":"2026-02-08T15:20:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T14:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/non-categorise\/arnaud-ente-a-taste-for-reality\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T12:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:07:08","slug":"arnaud-ente-a-taste-for-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/portrait\/arnaud-ente-a-taste-for-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Arnaud Ente, a taste for reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

On this wintry day, fog envelops the village of Meursault. A dense mist, almost motionless, as if suspended over the sleeping vines. Then, as the words were exchanged and the glasses tasted, something changed. The moment became both solemn and profoundly alive. It was as if the words, one after the other, gradually dissipated the clouds. And suddenly, almost naturally, the sky opened up to a brilliant blue, over what is arguably the world’s largest and most beautiful wine-growing region. <\/p>\n

\"X4A7797\"
Arnaud and Pierre Ente \u00a9Gilles Reboisson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Precision universe<\/h2>\n

In the winery ofArnaud Ente<\/strong><\/a>there’s an echo. Not only because of the recent walls, built in 2021, but also because every sentence uttered by the winemaker resonates for a long time. About wine, about vines, about time. He talks about a quarter of the vines being red, the rest white. And then, very quickly, you understand: here, it’s all about precision. In words and gestures. <\/p>\n

The estate is a composite heritage: three hectares inherited from the father-in-law, one and a half from the grandfather, in Puligny-Montrachet. Eight white wines, two reds. Chardonnay almost everywhere, Pinot Noir of course for the reds. The aligot\u00e9 has disappeared, torn out with its old vines. In its place, a building designed as a tool, not a showcase. Separating the private from the professional, preparing the handover to his son, Pierre; avoiding potential family conflicts. “I know what it’s like, I worked with my parents-in-law and I didn’t want to impose it on my son. <\/p>\n

\"HD
Au coeur de la vigne by Arnaud Ente \u00a9Lor\u00e8ne Creuzot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The heart of the soil<\/h2>\n

Since 2015, the estate has been certified organic. But for Arnaud Ente, organic isn’t a flag, it’s more like a foundation. And biodynamic viticulture? He’s tried it, a little. Without dogma. “You can do biodynamics on the wrong foundations. It’s useless. What counts is respect for the vines and the soil. The soils, in fact, are at the heart of his thinking. Long “muted”, he now believes that they are the key to climate change, responsible for drought, thermal shock and dieback. Changes have had to be made: pruning that respects sap flow, work on humus, microbial life and water retention capacity. Slow, modest action, never spectacular, but preparing for the future. <\/p>\n

In vineyards, we use plant cover crops. These are sown and then destroyed in spring, so as not to compete with the vines in dry weather. Depending on the year, we roll, mow and uproot earlier or later. By 2022, it was too late: yields had plateaued, averaging no more than 22 hl\/ha on the estate. A very low production, especially for white wines. Paradoxically, however, there are no fermentation problems: “the musts remain rich in assimilable nitrogen. In the past, low vigor meant a deficient must. That’s no longer the case. I can’t explain it,” explains Arnaud Ente. <\/p>\n

\"Ente\"
The Wine Globe at Arnaud Ente \u00a9Baltik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wine Globe<\/h2>\n

The work in the vineyard is followed by ultra-precise vinification. Hand-harvested in 15 kg crates, long pneumatic pressing – around four hours – inspired by Champagne standards, to extract the minimum of polyphenols and thus obtain pure, clear juices, without brutality. “Before, it was vertical and reductive. I really like this old style, but it’s not mine anymore”, he reveals. <\/p>\n

And then came the turning point with Wine Globe glass bubbles. Arnaud Ente was already familiar with the old-fashioned carboys: he’d been topping up by hand, cuv\u00e9e by cuv\u00e9e, for as long as he could remember. Testing began in 2017. The shock was immediate. The glass is unforgiving. No rounding, no make-up. “The barrel stamps. Glass doesn’t. It reflects everything back at you. It’s a magnifying glass.” In 2019, Arnaud is replacing almost all the barrels with these glass tanks, mainly for the Premiers Crus. Wood, when perfect, can be sublime, but it flavors. And Arnaud Ente wants something different: to restore matter, not transform it. <\/p>\n

This aesthetic choice changes everything: harvest dates and therefore levels of ripeness, yields. He who used to harvest early, to maintain tension, now has to go a little further. Too early, glass containers produce very strict wines. He is also revising his vision of yields. For a long time, people said that Chardonnay could make great wines at 50 or 60 hl\/ha. He no longer believes this. The great whites he tastes come from low yields. Today, he’s aiming for 35 hl\/ha, when the year allows. In the glass, what he looks for is balance. “Not over-ripeness, not thinness. Wines that stand up to the test of time. <\/p>\n

\"HD
Winemaker Arnaud Ente \u00a9Lor\u00e8ne Creuzot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Time as an ally<\/h2>\n

Arnaud Ente doesn’t preach. He proposes. Like a cook serving his dish, without saying it’s the only one possible. But we sense in him something more than a method: a need to avoid boredom. “If you always do the same thing, it’s the Groundhog Day movie. I need to live and be stimulated,” he says. Glass was a trigger, a renewal. A way of unlearning, the better to start again. In his echoing winery, every sentence echoes the quest of the winemaker who advances without a net, with the ground beneath his feet, the wine in his sights, and time as his only ally. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Meursault, Arnaud Ente pursues an insatiable quest for purity: less make-up, more substance, more truth. Meet a winemaker who prefers accuracy to effect. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":24482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"Arnaud Ente, a taste for reality | Vigneron Meursault | Edouard Amoiel","description":"In Meursault, Arnaud Ente pursues an insatiable quest for purity: less make-up, more substance, more truth. Meet a winemaker who prefers accuracy to effect."},"_slim_seo_primary_term_category":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_post_tag":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_restaurants-par-lieux":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_style-de-restaurant":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[358],"tags":[],"restaurants-par-lieux":[562],"style-de-restaurant":[],"class_list":["post-24481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-portrait","restaurants-par-lieux-meursault"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24481"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27196,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24481\/revisions\/27196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24481"},{"taxonomy":"restaurants-par-lieux","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/restaurants-par-lieux?post=24481"},{"taxonomy":"style-de-restaurant","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amoiel.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/style-de-restaurant?post=24481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}