Domaine LA GRANDE OURSE - Pascal CHALON

Pascal_Chalon_VignArtea

CÔTES-DU-RHÔNE    BIODYNAMICS    WINEMAKER : Pascal CHALON


ESTATE HISTORY


Pascal CHALON created his estate in 2002. Although he comes from a winegrowers family, he was not destined for this profession, moving towards studies in economics. But some opportunities prompted him to return to the family estate in the 90s in order to produce his own wine.
2002 was its first vintage. If the vineyard culture was then traditional, Pascal felt the need to go further to obtain more vigorous and balanced vines. After some time spent studying biodynamics, he then began to use preparations according to his intuition, carefully observing their effects on the vine.
Since 2008, the estate is fully certified Organic Farming and its biodynamic DEMETER label is scheduled for 2021.



TERROIR


At the end of the Cretaceous, early Paleocene, 65 million years ago, tectonic movements occur in the area of Suze La Rousse / Valréas, causing its emersion : the emerged rocks are decarbonated or desilicified and this alteration can be found today in places in the ground in the form of a siliceous or ferruginous crust. Then the sea invades the region again, with deposit of sandstone limestones and yellow sands.
Towards the end of the Tortonian, in the Miocene, about 7 million years ago, the marine regression begins under the effect of a new subalpine folding, while a concomitant drop in the Mediterranean sea level leads to a rapid digging of the hydrographic network : fluvial alluvium is then deposited in the valleys.
In the Pliocene (between -5 and -1.8 million years), a new marine transgression favors a very short brackish sedimentation episode, followed by a generalized silting with coarser stony and sandy deposits on the coastal parts.
In the Quaternary, two million years ago, the major event in the region was the digging of the Rhône bed, accompanied by some tectonic movements causing earthquakes around the Tricastin area.

The Pascal Chalon's estate parcels, located in the villages of VISAN and TULETTE, are based on Rissian alluvium dating from the last Quaternary glaciations and made up of limestone gravel sometimes with presence of flint and siliceous sandstone. In places, these alluviums are covered with more recent deposits left by rivers and forming a more or less gravelly and sandy silt layer.

The vineyard exposure and location are very variable, the latter is spread sometimes into terraces, sometimes on hillsides, or even also in sandy soils that Pascal Chalon reserves for the white grape varieties culture.
The plots in the village of TULETTE are planted with Grenache Noir, Carignan, Mourvèdre, Syrah, Counoise, Muscardin, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne and Bourboulenc. In VISAN, the grape variety includes Syrah and Grenache Noir.



WINEGROWING & WINEMAKING


The grapes maturity is determined by tasting the berries. The harvest is done manually and the grapes are sorted on site, directly in the vines at the time of picking.
The grapes are then vinified with native yeasts and bacteria, as Pascal Chalon does not wish add any input in his wines except some sulphites for their anti-bacterial and anti-oxidant actions.

For the red wines production, the grapes are completely destemmed, the fermentation takes place in 10 to 50 hl vats and the maceration lasts about 1 month. The must is then pressed : the free-run juice (first juice from the first press) and the press juice (last juice obtained after several presses, therefore more concentrated and more tannic) are blended for the must obtained with grapes of the VISAN village.
After racking, the wines are aged for twelve months in various containers : Bordeaux barrel, Burgundy barrel, demi-muid, cask and sawn-off cone tank.
For the white wines, the vinification is made in demi-muid and in vats : 1/3 of vats, 1/3 of several wines barrels, and 1/3 of new barrels. The alcoholic and malolactic fermentations take place spontaneously under the native yeasts and bacteria actions, then the must is matured on fine lees for approximately 11 months.
The red and white wines are never fined, just lightly filtered according to the results of the bacteriological analyzes.

Pascal Chalon's wines charmed us with their aromatic complexity and richness. The juice is dense and full-bodied. Those wines are still unknown but very elegant, whose style is getting close to the Châteauneuf-du-Pape's one .


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