Product Review
Anne-Sophie and Felix farm 3 hectares in the “Les Cailloux” vineyard. 1.6 hectares are planted to Pinot Noir and the remaining 1.3 hectares are planted to Chardonnay. The plant density is 8,000 plants per hectare and the vines have an average age of over 50 years. Anne-Sophie and Felix further ensure quality fruit by severely limiting the yields of their plants with the Pinot Noir yielding between 30 and 35 hl/hectare. The “Les Cailloux” vineyard descends from a plateau at one of the highest elevations in Rully and offers beautiful views of the Rully valleys below and the greater Côtes Challonnaise. As the vineyard name suggests, this “lieu dit” has a great many surface stones. They absorb the sun’s heat during the day and radiate it back to the plants after sunset. All harvesting is done by hand. After a pre-fermentation "cold soak", the red wine is fermented in cement "cuves" with indigenous yeasts and with little heating of the tanks. This allows the fermentation to be slow and gentle. The maceration lasts
Pinot Noir is responsible for some of the world’s finest wines. Famed for producing the red wines of Burgundy and the Côte d’Or in particular, it is now widely grown in cool climates across Califonia and Oregon, and with increasing success in New Zealand. Although typically used to produce varietal wines, Pinot Noir makes a significant contribution in the wines of Champagne, where it is vinified as a white wine and blended with Cardonnay and Pinot Meunier. On the whole, fresh summer fruit of strawberries, raspberries and red cherries tend to be the identifying qualities, however richer versions express darker fruit including black cherries (kirsch), cherry cola, leather and violets to name a few.
Two hundred miles south east of Paris lies the famous and historic wine region, known in French as Bourgogne. The Cote d'Or, the heartland of the region, consists of two distinct sub-regions split on either side of the town of Beaune.The Côte de Nuits to the north, includes the famous villages of Vosne-Romanee, Gevrey-Chambertin, and Nuits-Saint-Georges and are known primarily for making red wine from Pinot Noir.Although The Côte de Beaune to the south still makes some magnificent reds (see Volnay and Pommard), white wine made from Chardonnay is the main focus. The most famous villages are Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault. Burgundy has three other important regions. The village of Chablis (exclusively Chardonnay) encompassing the region's most northerly vineyards. The Côte Chalonnaise and Mâconnais to south are quantitatively speaking more important. Agriculture is more diverse with a significant portion of the land devoted to livestock and arable farming.
