LES LONGEROIES 2018 (Domaine Sylvain PATAILLE)

LES LONGEROIES is a single-plot red wine from the eponymous locality: it is a very wide locality that stretches on one kilometer from north to south. It is divided into three plots: Dessus des Longeroies, Bas des Longeroies, and En Montchenevoy.
The vines of the PATAILLE estate are located in the Bas des Longeroies part, at an altitude of around 275 meters and that is considered to be the most qualitative terroir for the red grape varieties. It also straddles two different terroirs.

TERROIR

The plot of the Sylvain PATAILLE estate is located at a place called Bas des Longeroies and the vines extend from bottom to top. Its soil divides in two at mid-height: it consists of the lower half of cone alluvium that accumulated in the valleys during the last Quaternary glaciation period that occured 20,000 years ago, while the upper half consists of a gray-blue colored Bresse marls layer which were deposited 1 million years ago in a continental environment, in lakes or swamps.

These soils give wines with delicate fruity aromas and a supple texture.

WINEGROWING & WINEMAKING

The estate has been working in accordance with the organic farming specifications since 2008 but it lost its certification in 2016 in order to save its crops. It will get it again with the 2020 vintage, which is why the 2017 and 2018 vintages do not carry the official Organic label.

After the harvest, the grapes are driven to the cellar where they are carefully sorted. They are not destemmed, and the whole bunches are put in vats for the alcoholic fermentation which starts spontaneously under the native yeasts action.
The maceration duration on skins and stems is not known in advance, the time to drawn off is only chosen if the tasting of the must is perfect. The must is then racked into oak barrels, including 15% of new barrels, to complete its malolactic fermentation and to age there for 18 months.

No SO2 is added during the different winemaking stages. At the end of the aging period, the must is drawn off without filtration or fining, just a slight dose of SO2 is added before bottling to stabilize it and guarantee its good conservation over time.