Jean-Marc Roulot
Meursault, Côte de Beaune, France
Jean-Marc Roulot
Jean-Marc Roulot is best known through Domaine Roulot where an extraordinary sensitivity to vineyard, place and élevage has made the domaine one of the defining estates of contemporary Meursault. His work as a distiller is another, less familiar expression of those same instincts.
This is not a recent diversion from winemaking. The Roulot family has distilled in Meursault for more than 150 years, and Jean-Marc’s spirits represent both the continuation of that history and its gradual reinvention. Working with pears, raspberries, apricots, lemons and mirabelles, he approaches distillation with much the same philosophy that guides the domaine’s wines: begin with exceptional fruit, intervene with precision, and preserve as much of its original character as possible.
The result is a small collection of eaux-de-vie and liqueurs remarkable for their purity and definition—spirits that taste first and foremost of the fruit from which they came.
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The Roulot family has owned its own copper alambic since 1866. Five generations of vignerons and distillers have followed one another in Meursault, traditionally producing both Marc de Bourgogne and Fine de Bourgogne alongside the domaine’s wines.
Jean-Marc’s father, Guy Roulot, was particularly devoted to this side of the family métier. In addition to tending the domaine, Guy worked as a bouilleur ambulant, traveling through the region with the family still to distill for other growers. Jean-Marc remembers his mother joking that “the still paid for the vineyards.”
Guy’s curiosity extended beyond Burgundy’s traditional grape spirits. He experimented with pears, raspberries and other fruits; his Williams pear eau-de-vie became sufficiently renowned among those fortunate enough to taste it that it acquired its own nickname: “La Poire du Roulot.”
Following Guy’s sudden death in 1982, the family alambic was rented out, and this part of the domaine's history largely went dormant. Years later, Jean-Marc discovered twelve forgotten bottles of an apricot liqueur made by his father. There was no recipe and Jean-Marc had never seen Guy make it, but tasting the liqueur inspired him to recreate it. In 2008, he produced his first L’Abricot du Roulot, reopening a chapter of the family story and beginning to develop a distilling identity of his own.
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For Jean-Marc, the quality of a spirit begins with the fruit itself. As with his wines, provenance and character are fundamental.
The fruit is therefore sourced deliberately rather than simply locally. Williams pears and raspberries come from Burgundy’s Hautes-Côtes de Beaune, while other cuvées take Jean-Marc farther afield in search of varieties and growing regions particularly suited to each fruit.
For L’Abricot, he has worked with intensely aromatic Bergeron apricots from the Rhône Valley, including organically farmed fruit from Laurent Combier. Le Citron begins with organically grown Sicilian lemons, while La Mirabelle uses organic mirabelle plums from Lorraine.
What connects them is not geography, but Jean-Marc’s search for fruit with enough aromatic intensity, freshness and identity to remain unmistakable in the finished spirit.
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Jean-Marc approaches distillation much as he approaches wine: technique should reveal the character of the fruit rather than overwhelm it.
The precise method varies according to what he is working with. Williams pears are fermented and distilled in the family’s historic copper alambic. The resulting eau-de-vie then spends years resting in glass demijohns—not hidden away in a temperature-controlled cellar, but traditionally kept in the domaine’s attic, where the natural temperature fluctuations of Burgundy’s seasons accompany its slow evolution.
Spirits
La Poire du Roulot
Williams Pear Eau-de-Vie | 45% ABV Fruit: Williams pear Source: Orches, Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Production: The pears are fermented before distillation in the Roulot family's historic copper alambic. Élevage: Extended aging in glass demijohns traditionally stored in the domaine's attic, where seasonal temperature changes contribute to the spirit's gradual evolution.
La Poire is perhaps the spirit most directly connected to Jean-Marc's father. Guy Roulot's pear eau-de-vie acquired an almost cult following among a small group of friends and clients, who affectionately called it “La Poire du Roulot.” Jean-Marc's version continues that family tradition.
La Framboise du Roulot
Raspberry Eau-de-Vie | 45% ABV Fruit: Raspberry Source: Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Production: Carefully selected raspberries undergo maceration followed by distillation. Élevage: Extended resting following distillation.
A particularly pure expression of raspberry, La Framboise follows the same basic principle as La Poire: capturing the character of the fruit through careful preparation, distillation and time rather than sweetness.
L’Abricot du Roulot
Apricot Liqueur | 25% ABV Fruit: Bergeron apricot Source: Rhône Valley, including organically farmed fruit Production: The apricots are pitted and infused for several months in neutral spirit. The finished infusion is adjusted with water and a deliberately restrained amount of sugar.
L’Abricot occupies a special place in the project. Inspired by forgotten bottles of apricot liqueur made by Guy Roulot and rediscovered decades later in the family cellar, it was the spirit that drew Jean-Marc back into his family's fruit-distilling tradition. Rather than making a conventionally sweet fruit liqueur, Jean-Marc sought freshness and movement—the sensation of the apricot itself “bursting through.”
Le Citron du Roulot
Lemon Spirit | 35% ABV Fruit: Organic lemon Source: Sicily Production: The lemon juice is distilled, after which the skins are infused into the distillate.
Le Citron sits somewhere between an eau-de-vie and a traditional limoncello, but with considerably less emphasis on sugar. The combination of distillation and infusion allows Jean-Marc to capture different dimensions of the lemon while preserving the dry, energetic style that characterizes the range.
La Mirabelle du Roulot
Mirabelle Liqueur | 25% ABV Fruit: Organic mirabelle plum Source: Lorraine Production: Fruit infusion combined with a portion of eau-de-vie distilled from the same mirabelles.
La Mirabelle brings together two methods in a single spirit. The generosity of infused fruit is balanced by the precision of distilled mirabelle eau-de-vie, allowing Jean-Marc to explore both expressions of the same raw material.