Vineyard: These grapes are from Les Treuffères, a parcel of 40-year-old Chardonnay above the village of Buxy in the heart of the Montagny Premier Cru appellation in the Côte Chalonnaise. Facing South-East, au levant, as our grower likes to say, the vines are high-trained (1.7m) with long baguettes, allowing lots of air to penetrate and an ideal leaf to fruit ratio. The soil is a friable clay-limestone loam and has not seen any synthetic treatments (so no pesticides or herbicides) since planting 40 years ago! As such, the soil is very alive and is naturally open from the work of worms and other soil-microfauna and microflora. We think this is a big part of the secret to this wine's stunning freshness and length.
Vinification: Hand-picked, chilled for several days and then pressed overnight without additions of SO2 or enzymes. The juice was oxidised in tank for several hours and then racked to two 40 0L barrels with lots of solids (bourbe ) for fermentation by indigenous yeasts. Aged on full lies , without stirring or racking, for 18 months and then bottled under DIAM 10 after a very light filtration.
