The Chardonnay is the grape variety of our Bourgogne Blanc:
- Density of at least 10 000 feet/ha.
- Guyot or cordon de Royat pruning methods.
- Manual harvest.
- Yields of 60 hl/ha in standard year.
This wine will be perfect paired with a Comté tart, a plate of cured meats, pigs’ feet, a plate of seafood, or a cheese such as the French Beaufort.
Serve at a temperature of 13-14°C. (55-57°F.)
Enjoy now or keep in the cellar for the next two years.
The area which constitutes the Bourgogne appellation spreads across 384 villages of the Yonne, Côte d’Or, Saône et Loire, and Rhône departments. Starting in the North, from the region of Chablis and Auxerre, to the South in the region of Macon, and passing through the Côte d’Or and the Côte Chalonnaise, the Bourgogne wines stem from very diverse terroirs.
This Bourgogne blanc is a blend of Chardonnay grapes from different areas in order to benefit from the freshness, minerality, and liveliness of the northern wines, the structure and roundness of the wines from the Mâconnais and the Côte Chalonnaise, and finally, the power and complexity of the Côte d’Or wines.
Varied terroirs with limestone hillsides, sometimes chalky or Kimmeridgian in the North, with the marl and limestone of the Côte d’Or and the clay with hints of granite from the Saône and Loire.
Serious sorting of the grapes at the vineyard and when they arrive at the wineries. They are then pressurized. A fining and/or cold settling for 24 hours at a temperature of approximately 8°-10°C separates the bad lies from the fine lees. The bad lees are separated from the wine by a racking.
The clean juices are placed in thermo-regulated stainless steel vats where fermentation is carried out in vats under the action of selected yeasts at a temperature maintained around 16-18°C.
After the alcoholic fermentation, the wines are housed for 50% of the cuvée in stainless steel vats on lees for 6 - 8 months. The remaining 50% are aged in oak barrels on lees for 6 to 8 months as well. The two batches are blended before bottling.
Nature certainly set a challenge for the winegrower and the winemaker with this vintage. It began with very warm temperatures at the end of February which led to an early bud break.
The historic frost in April then destroyed young shoots that had emerged too early, significantly affecting the future harvest. Changing weather continued to characterize the vintage through to the harvests. There were spells of rain from May to mid-August, obliging winegrowers to be constantly on the alert.
The only periods of relative calm were during flowering, which took place in good conditions for the formation of the future fruit, and the véraison (colour change), which benefited from the return of the sun from mid-August. The vagaries of the weather contributed to the development of outbreaks of disease, which were contained thanks to the tireless efforts of our winegrowers. In spite of this, considerable sacrifices had to be made to ensure a high level of quality, and rigorous sorting of the fruit in the vineyard and on arrival at the winery was necessary.
This vintage also required a major technical effort. The vinifications had to be carried out with meticulous attention and precision. We took particular care over the extraction of colouring matter, the balance of the structure and the aromatic expression of our red wines, and of the freshness, balance of acidity and aromatic potential of our white wines.
From the first tastings, this vintage presented excellent flavour and aroma potential, and the balance of acidity was contained. The wines are less sunny, revealing a more moderate character, lighter in terms of alcohol and in tannic structure.
These are wines that will assert their personalities by offering a diverse palette of flavours and textures, like the growing season.