CHABLIS 1er Cru Les Côtes de Fontenay 2015 (Domaine Vrignaud)

DESCRIPTION

CHABLIS 1er cru FOURCHAUME Les Côtes de Fontenay is a Chablis 1er Cru made from 60 years old vines planted on the Fourchaume Les Côtes de Fontenay plot, whose surface area is barely 85 ares, limiting the number of bottles produced.

TERROIR

The FOURCHAUME 1er Cru 'climate' is located in the continuation of the Grands Crus area, and its vineyard is extended in very varied exposures which explain why the FOURCHAUME 1er Cru offers such a diversified range of expression.

The parcel Les Côtes de Fontenay is located on the hillsides south-east oriented. The soil dates back to the middle/upper Kimmeridgian, a geological layer that is about 150 million years old, characterised by limestone and marl about 80 meters thick, whose sedimentation took place in a warm and agitated water.

This soil is composed of alternating limestone banks rich in small fossilised oysters, the Exogyra virgula, and grey marl. It is the preferred area for the great wines of Chablis.

WINEGROWING & WINEMAKING

The Vrignaud estate lost its Organic Agriculture certification in 2016 in order to save its harvest, it has started a new 3-year organic conversion cycle. This is the reason why the 2019 vintage does not carry the organic label.

The winemaking is done with as little input as possible. Once the grapes are harvested, they are gently pressed, then The juice is vatted in thermo-regulated stainless steel tanks where it is inoculated with selected yeast to ensure the alcoholic fermentation.
Once the alcoholic fermentation is completed, the must is racked into oak barrels for a fine lees ageing phase of 10 months during which the malolactic fermentation is carried out by the indigenous bacteria.
Once the maturation is complete, the wine is racked, lightly filtered and then bottled.

The bottle is closed by a cork of the DIAM®'s brand, specially designed to guarantee zero wine's contamination by the cork, called "cork taste", thanks to the use of the cork flower previously cleared from the molecule responsible for this aromatic deviance.