Saint-Aubin Premier Cru Pitangerets 2018 - Au Pied du Mont Chauve

About the vintage : The 2018 vintage was full of richness, marked by the great maturity of the grapes with great ageing potential. Thanks to the rain at the end of August, the vines gave both abundant and very good quality yield. The white grapes were ripe, rich and powerful. Tasted a few months after the bottling, the wines tend to settle down, keeping the richness of the fruit, and developing a slight toasted and mineral reduction notes, typical of great Chardonnay. The Pinot Noir were very ripe, with a dark ruby color and a strong tannic structure: on some vintages they sometimes take on southern accents!

Terroir : This terroir is located on the foothill, enclosed between the quarry of Chassagne and Montrachet hill. The soil is rich in limestone. There is a pile of fallen rocks composed with limestone coming from the erosion of the bedrock. The vines were planted in the mid 1980’s.

Viticultural Practices : The grapes are grown biodynamically. At spring, we stimulate the microbial activity of the soil with a very energizing preparations such as the 500: horn manure and the 500 P: prepared horn manure. During the vegetative cycle, in addition to the copper sulfate treatment in the vineyards, we also spray decoctions of horsetail, nettle, wicker and silica that have an energizing and disease prevention power for the vines. Natural grassing between the vines, and mechanical work of the soil. The vines are trained in single guyot, keeping one long cane and one spur per vine, one budding every two eyes, in order to obtain well ventilated and beautiful grapes.

Vinification : Grapes harvested by hand in crates, sorted on a sorting table if necessary and conveyed directly to the pneumatic press. Pressing of whole grapes for two and a half hour. The juice from stainless steel vats settles at 12 degrees overnight. Then the must is directly transferred to barrels to achieve alcoholic fermentation (traditional Burgundy vinification).

Ageing : 18 months ageing on less, including 10 months in oak barrels (Burgundy 228L barrels and 1HL barrels)