Grapes: Pinot Noir
Region: Burgundy, France
Vintage: 2021
Viticulture: Organic
Soils: Granite + Limestone Marls
Vinification: : 100% whole-cluster, ambient yeast fermentation with a pied de cuve, only very gentle pump-overs (sometimes none), limited foot punch-downs.
Aging: Aged 13 months in 228L
Fining or Filtering: None
Sulfur: None added
Notes from the Importer: 2020 marked an exciting pivot for Tomoko and Guillaume, as they acquired several plots with incredible potential, mostly in the Hautes Côtes de Beaune. They farm these vineyards organically, using phytotherapy approaches researched and recommended by Eric Petiot, a pioneering plant scientist based in Lausanne.
For the Aligoté and Pinot Noir, minimal copper is used against downy mildew and low fat milk against powdery mildew. Skim milk is actually is the most effective because the fat in whole milk clogs the nozzles of the sprayer. With Chardonnay, they must spray with a mix of sulfur rather than with milk, but they are able to minimize the sulfur dose by mixing in potassium bicarbonate.
In the Hautes Côtes, where the row width is 2.5m, they limit plowing to only around the vines with a lightweight caterpillar tractor. They, thus, leave 1.5m of permanent natural cover crop in the middle of the rows. The other vineyards are plowed by horse by Gilbert Simond, who is a master in his field. He is the most coveted horse plower of the Côte, hired by everyone from Domaine de Montille to Domaine Des Comtes Lafon. The soils are tilled from mid-April to mid-July only, with no tilling for the other 8 months of the year. In mid-July, after the last tilling, they manually sow a mix of 13 different perennial and annual plant species to de-compact the soil and build organic mass for better water retention, increased biodiversity and healthier soil composition. These seeds are all certified organic.
