Pierre-O Bonhomme

Domaine Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme is the continuation and evolution of the now defunct Puzelat-Bonhomme négociant project. In the 1990’s, Clos du Tue-Boeuf was faced with many years of tiny crops caused by late frost, mildew, hail, or general bad weather. Revenues were tight, and Thierry Puzelat, the younger of the two brothers running the estate wanted to expand by renting or buying more vineyards. His brother Jean-Marie, in his late forties at the time, did not want to add more vineyard and cellar work to his already heavy schedule. So Thierry started a négociant business, set up a winery in the village of Monthou-sur-Bièvre and sourced excellent vineyards and vine-tenders to buy their grapes.

Thierry being a busy and ambitious man, he soon found himself opening a wine bar in Orléans and a wine import company. The négoce project had gotten bigger than he’d anticipated and he needed a partner. Thierry quickly found one in Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme, a teenager who’d dropped out high school and had helped work a few seasons at Tue-Boeuf. Pierre-O, young and motivated, became a partner in his early 20’s and the négoce business was renamed Puzelat-Bonhomme.

In anticipation of Jean-Marie’s retirement from Clos du Tue-Boeuf, Thierry knew the day would come where he would have to re-shift his focus back to his family estate. A plan was then hatched to have Pierre-O continue the négociant operation under his own name. The switch officially happened with the 2013 vintage but Pierre-O has vinified the entirety of the production since 2011.