Home › Wine Notes › Domaine Benoît Ente
Benoît Ente Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru Clos de la Truffière 2018
WhiteFrance2018
By Daniel Min · Tasted 2021-01-16 · Published 2026-09-30 · Updated 2026-09-30
At a glance
In one line
3.5/5 — lower than Vivino's 4.4 average · world avg price US$340 · A small Puligny domaine that began when a young man and his aunt took back his grandparents' vines.
Wine-Searcher aggregate of 2 critic reviews: 92. Vivino shows no critic score.
Market note: World average US$340 / 750ml (Wine-Searcher, ex-tax, Sep 2026). Two overseas sellers: one undisclosed at US$313.85 (incl. 20% tax) and one in Hong Kong at US$364.55 (duty paid). From the same house, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières En la Richarde is US$476 (92) and the village Puligny-Montrachet US$231 (90).
Father's note — Daniel Min
Original author of the notes“처음 만난 브누아 엉뜨, 아르노엉뜨의 조카라 하여 기대기대함. 그런데 첫맛에 엥 인위적인 단맛이 머지. 하며 라벨을 봤는데. 설탕 첨가. 아쉽다. 뒤에 느껴지는 과일향들과 뫼르소적인 적당한 타닌으로 인한 유질감은 다 좋으나. 거기에 덧입힌 인위적인 맛이 아쉽다.”
Show original
“butter citrus minerals lemon pear vanilla 처음만난 브누아 엉뜨, 아르노엉뜨의 조카라하여~~ 기대기대함~~ 그런데 첫맛에 엥 인위적인단맛이 머지.. 하며 라벨을 봤는데.. 설탕첨가ㅜㅜ 아쉽다.. 뒤에 느껴지는 과일향들과 뫼르소적인 적당한 타닌으로인한 유질감은 다좋으나.. 거기에 덧입힌 인위적인 맛이 아쉽다.”
What I learned today: the first taste and the last can tell different stories.
Saturday. Handing me a white, Master Seo said: today write the first sip and the last sip separately. I folded a page of the notebook in half to make two columns.
First-sip column. Butter, vanilla, and a sweetness that touched the tip of my tongue before anything else. Too far forward to be the sweetness of fruit. In that sweetness I heard someone go 'huh?' Last-sip column. Pear, lemon, wet stone, a slickness that coated the mouth like oil. The two columns were like two different bottles. The sweetness in the first opened a Saturday night in the third week of the new year.
Twenty-two, a Saturday night two weeks after the second day of the new year. On the table was a plate of walnuts and dried figs, for the red bottle, Dad said. Before that, he opened a white. The moment he took his first sip his face went 'huh?' And then, right in front of me, he did something he had never done. He lifted the bottom corner of the cloth and studied the back of the bottle for a long time. I said the finish was good, though. Dad nodded, but his brow didn't smooth out. I don't know the name of the bottle.
Of the two lines for that date, this bottle got three and a half stars. The first Benoît Ente he'd met; he'd been looking forward to it because he'd heard Benoît was Arnaud Ente's nephew. But at the first sip: what is this artificial sweetness? He looked at the label, and it said sugar added. The fruit and oily texture behind it were all good, but the sweetness laid on top was a letdown. The bottle was Benoît Ente Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru Clos de la Truffière 2018. I stuck on the wine-name Post-it. Probably Dad lifted the cloth that day not to see the name but to find out where that sweetness came from.
When I told Master Seo about the sweetness in the first column, he said sugar is added so it turns into alcohol, not so it stays sweet. Then he gave Minjae, sitting beside me, a question. Minjae's answer was exactly the word in Dad's notebook, and Master Seo corrected it with a single word. Brothers.
After closing, I wrote the bottle's name in both columns of page forty-six of the new notebook. First column: 'butter, sweetness out in front.' Last column: 'pear, stone, slickness.' I left Dad's notebook as it was and wrote one line only at the bottom of my own page: not nephew, brother. What I learned today: the first taste and the last can tell different stories.
What this wine is
Benoît Ente began by taking something back. In 1990, together with his aunt, he recovered the vines his grandparents had tended. For the first few years all the fruit and wine went to négociants. In 1997 he split from his aunt and began vinifying about three hectares himself, and in 2013, when she retired and handed him her vines, the domaine doubled. Today it covers about six hectares in 20 parcels and makes some 25,000 bottles a year, without chemical herbicides or fertilisers (Hameau Albert tech sheet, Clos des Spiritueux).
He is the brother of Arnaud Ente in Meursault; both sources say so.
Clos de la Truffière is a premier cru in Puligny-Montrachet, divided between two owners. Benoît's plot is about one hectare at 320–330 metres, a true 'clos' enclosed by walls and stone boundaries, over stratified limestone. 'Truffière' is French for ground where truffles grow, but I couldn't confirm that the vineyard's name actually comes from that. The wine spends its first 12 months in barrel and tank, six more in tank, and is bottled unfiltered.
What the world says
The two critic reviews on Wine-Searcher aggregate to 92. Vivino shows no critic score.
On Vivino the 2018 averages 4.4 from 81 ratings: 15 fives, 55 fours and 11 threes. The label as a whole averages 4.4 from about 680, and every vintage from 2014 to 2020 sits at 4.3–4.5. The suggested drinking window is 2022–2028; I drank it a year before that.
"Light, fresh even for the warm 2018 year. Straight not too reductive, delicate oak. Minerals, stone and lemon." — Vivino review, Dec 2025, 4.7 stars
Structure shows acidity 3.4, intensity 3.5 and sweetness 1.7. The keywords run minerals (20), honey and stone; green apple (17), pear (16) and peach; butter (23), oak and vanilla; citrus and lemon; brioche, toast and hazelnut. A sweetness of 1.7 is ordinary for a dry white.
The world average is US$340 / 750ml (Wine-Searcher, ex-tax, Sep 2026).
How I drank it
January 16, 2021, 3.5 stars. I logged two bottles that day: this one and Château de Saint Cosme Gigondas Hominis Fides 2014 (4), which I noted suddenly improved alongside walnuts and figs.
Two weeks earlier, on January 2, I'd given Arnaud Ente's Bourgogne Chardonnay 4.5. So I wrote that I'd been looking forward to Benoît Ente, 'Arnaud Ente's nephew'. Looking into it, the two are brothers, not uncle and nephew. At the first sip I sensed an artificial sweetness, looked at the label, and wrote that it said sugar had been added. France doesn't require chaptalisation to be declared on the label, though, so I couldn't confirm whether this bottle was actually chaptalised. And chaptalisation is meant to raise alcohol, not to leave sweetness behind. The fruit and oily texture that followed were all good.
Community 4.4, critics 92, me 3.5. On this bottle I'm the lowest. The whole gap came from one place: the first sip. I'll also note that I opened it a year ahead of its suggested window.
Vivino community data
2018 vintage rating distribution (81 ratings, average 4.4)
| 5★ | 15 (19%) | |
| 4★ | 55 (68%) | |
| 3★ | 11 (14%) | |
| 2★ | 0 (0%) | |
| 1★ | 0 (0%) |
Most-mentioned aromas
| Family | Mentions | Top keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Earth & leather | 65 | minerals 20 · honey 13 · stone 6 · smoke 5 · flint 4 |
| Tree fruit | 62 | green apple 17 · pear 16 · peach 9 · apple 8 · apricot 6 |
| Oak | 54 | butter 23 · oak 19 · vanilla 8 · butterscotch 1 · caramel 1 |
| Citrus | 50 | citrus 23 · lemon 18 · lime 5 · lemon zest 3 · orange 1 |
| Bread & nuts | 20 | brioche 6 · toast 5 · almond 3 · hazelnut 3 · biscuit 1 |
Structure: Acidity 3.4/5 · Intensity 3.5/5 · Sweetness 1.7/5
Average by vintage (all vintages: 685 ratings, average 4.4)
| Vintage | Average | Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 4.4 | 124 |
| 2015 | 4.5 | 136 |
| 2016 | 4.3 | 94 |
| 2017 | 4.3 | 101 |
| 2018 | 4.4 | 81 |
| 2019 | 4.5 | 36 |
| 2020 | 4.5 | 44 |
Other wines Father scored 3.5 →
Read next
Swipe for more →
Similar styleDomaine Leroy Bourgogne Aligoté 2014
France · Burgundy★★★★☆
Similar styleChâteau La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc 2018
France · Bordeaux★★★★☆
Similar styleLucien Le Moine Meursault-Charmes Premier Cru 2018
France · Burgundy★★★★☆
Similar styleMaison Leroy Saint-Aubin Premier Cru Le Charmois Blanc 2002
France · Burgundy★★★★★
Same grapeDomaine de la Pinte Trousseau Arbois 2018
France★★★★½
Same grapeFar Niente Chardonnay 2019
United States · Napa★★★★☆
Same grapeArnaud Ente Bourgogne Chardonnay 2015
France · Burgundy★★★★½
Same grapeDugat-Py Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes 2005
France · Burgundy★★★★☆
Same grapeEgly-Ouriet Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru 'Les Crayères' Ambonnay
France · Champagne★★★★★
Same grapeMichel Noëllat Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Suchots 2014
France · Burgundy★★★★☆
Same grapeLucien Le Moine Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Hauts Doix 2016
France · Burgundy★★★★★
Same grapeDomaine Coche-Dury Meursault 2013
France · Burgundy★★★★★More from Burgundy, France
Swipe for more →
BurgundyDomaine Leroy Bourgogne Aligoté 2014
★★★★☆BurgundyLucien Le Moine Meursault-Charmes Premier Cru 2018
★★★★☆BurgundyMaison Leroy Saint-Aubin Premier Cru Le Charmois Blanc 2002
★★★★★BurgundyArnaud Ente Bourgogne Chardonnay 2015
★★★★½BurgundyDugat-Py Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes 2005
★★★★☆BurgundyMichel Noëllat Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Suchots 2014
★★★★☆BurgundyLucien Le Moine Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Hauts Doix 2016
★★★★★BurgundyDomaine Coche-Dury Meursault 2013
★★★★★
BurgundyLucien Le Moine Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Suchots 2015
★★★★½
BurgundyRobert Groffier Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru 2014
★★★½☆Explore
Bottles Father gave five stars
Only the wines Father scored a perfect 5
→
Wines in manga, film and history
Bottles that show up in manga, film and history
→
Wines you can buy at the supermarket
Wines actually bought at the supermarket
→Frequently asked questions
What kind of wine is Benoît Ente Clos de la Truffière?
A Chardonnay from Clos de la Truffière, a premier cru in Puligny-Montrachet, made by Benoît Ente from a walled plot of about one hectare. The 2018 averages 4.4 on Vivino (81 ratings) with a Wine-Searcher critic aggregate of 92.
How much does it cost?
Wine-Searcher's world average is US$340 per 750ml (ex-tax, Sep 2026). Two overseas sellers: US$313.85 (undisclosed seller, tax incl.) and US$364.55 in Hong Kong (duty paid).
What food goes with it?
The Vivino community suggests shellfish, pasta, rich fish such as salmon and tuna, mild soft cheese and cured meat.
How are Benoît Ente and Arnaud Ente related?
They are brothers, with separate domaines: Benoît in Puligny-Montrachet, Arnaud in Meursault (Hameau Albert, Clos des Spiritueux). The 'nephew' story also circulates, but it doesn't match the producer sources.
Links & sources
View on Vivino · Prices on Wine-Searcher
- Vivino — wine page and community data
- Hameau Albert — Domaine B. Ente tech sheet
- Clos des Spiritueux — Benoit Ente, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos de la Truffière 2018
- Wikipedia — Chaptalization
- Wine-Searcher — 2018 Benoit Ente Clos de la Truffiere
Read next
Swipe for more →
Similar styleDomaine Leroy Bourgogne Aligoté 2014
France · Burgundy★★★★☆Similar styleChâteau La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc 2018
France · Bordeaux★★★★☆Same grapeDomaine de la Pinte Trousseau Arbois 2018
France★★★★½Same grapeFar Niente Chardonnay 2019
United States · Napa★★★★☆Same grapeLucien Le Moine Meursault-Charmes Premier Cru 2018
France · Burgundy★★★★☆Same grape