Domaine PIGNIER - Chardonnay de la Reculée 2022
Domaine Pignier is located in the town of Montaigu , in the Jura department. The wine estate, which is the only one still active in the village, owes its origin to the Carthusian monks who were the first to cultivate vines on hillsides formed by the foothills of the Jura Revermont. In 1794, the estate was sold as “national property” and was acquired by the Pignier family . Today, the 7th generation has shared the management of the estate between three since 1991. It was exploited for centuries in organic cultivation and manual harvesting but after the two world wars and diseases, the activity was undermined, the family had to practice mixed farming and livestock until the 1970s, when they returned to mono-cropping vines. In 1990, the brothers and sisters decided to return to forgotten techniques by adopting the methods of Léandre , their grandfather, who had no other choice in his time than to adapt to what nature offered him to experience. . Meetings with Yves Hérody, geologist, then with Pierre Masson, training advisor in biodynamics, led them to consider organic cultivation and then biodynamics as an ultimate goal to achieve. The results are encouraging, the vines are coming back to life and the quality of the grapes produced is excellent. Since 2002, the entire vineyard of 13 hectares of vines has been cultivated biodynamically and certified since 2003. The vines are increasingly planted with different grape varieties coming only with mass selection plants from their private nursery.
Chardonnay de la Reculée is made from a mass selection of Red Tail Melon from the vineyard located in the remote Vallière valley. After slow pressing, the wine is transferred into 228 liter oak pieces without settling or racking. The alcoholic and malolactic fermentations as well as the aging are carried out in the same room with stirring and regular topping. The wine is bottled according to the lunar calendar on flower days, and corked with natural fire-marked cork.
Grape variety: 100% Chardonnay from mass selection “Melon à Queue Rouge”
