Our philosophy

We are and will always be respectful of a human scale production and its environment (Brillat Savarin)

Our philosophy is to produce grapes with our own hands, and without the use of chemicals. We are far from the common misconception that producing organic wine is letting nature do our job.

All grapes come from our vineyard, we are not negociant ! 

 

 

We let grass grow on every second row of our vines, to facilitate the passage of a tractor. Grass, however, is the No. 1 enemy of organic wine! On those rows where grass grows, the bases of the plants are kept grass free manually. The rest of the vines are tilled with an interceps machine so no herbicides are used.

 

In order to produce good quality wines, we first produce healthy grapes:

  • Plantation through selective breeding (the individual plants stem from the crossing of older plants from our land, and not from grafting)
  • « Taille guyot », double or simple, so as to achieve a good vegetative-reproductive-economic balance. We aim for around 40 hectolitres per hectare.
  • The maintenance of the entire domain is carried out without chemicals. Tilling, buttage, debuttage, griffage... is done mechanically or manually.
  • Soil conditioner is added every three years. Only compost and horse manure are used and no chemicals are added.
  • Only sulphure and the copper based « bouillie bordelaise »  are used to enhance the quality of our grapes.
  • AB Label (Organic Agriculture) since 2010
  • The grapes are harvested manually in 20 kg boxes with no further trituration. Strong selection of the grapes before vinification.
  • Pneumatic wine press allows for a gentle extraction from whole grape clusters.
  • Vinify without the addition of So2.
  • Only indigenous yeasts from the region are used.
  • For a mineral taste, our wines are aged on the lees (not in new barrels), in cool, vaulted cellars. The barrels are topped up every 2 weeks.
  • The wine is bottled without filtration. 
  • No sulfur added for bottling.

Domaine de la Tournelle - 5, Petite Place - 39600 ARBOIS - Tél. 03 84 66 25 76

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