Grapes: Chardonnay
Region: Saint-Romain, Burgundy, France
Vintage: 2020 + 2021
Viticulture: Organic
Soils: Marl + Limestone + Clay
Vinification: Direct press, then fermented in qvevri
Aging: 1 year in qvevri
Fining or Filtering: None
Sulfur: None added
Notes from the Importer: Frederic Cossard is a larger than life character. He is a man with an infectious joie de vivre, with a real passion for life and a love of wine that runs deep. Fred wasn’t born into a family of vignerons and so had to start from scratch, no mean feat in Burgundy. Domaine de Chassorney was born in 1996 with a few hectares of vines rented in Saint Romain and Auxey Duresses and now comprises ten hectares of vines across several villages. He also acts as a négociant, which gives him access to fruit from some of the greatest vineyards in Burgundy. These wines are bottled eponymously, as ‘Frederic Cossard’.
The Cossard’s have worked organically from the outset and now focus on homeopathic treatments and remedies tailored to the needs of each site. When fruit is bought, they give the growers a guide for looking after the vines and join them in the vineyards to ensure that work is carried out to their own lofty standards. In doing so they ensure that only the most pristine fruit makes it to their cellars tucked away amongst the limestone cliffs of Saint-Romain.
Such scrutiny is necessary to make great wine with no additions, which is exactly what they do. Whites are pressed directly straight to barrel, where they rest on lees until bottling. Reds spend around a month on their skins as whole bunches in open top casks, before being pressed off to barrel, also resting on their lees until bottling. It sounds simple, but the attention to detail in the cellar is second to none and Fred produces Burgundy of rare liveliness, purity and detail.
From fifty year old vines of Pinot Noir planted in one of the steepest, shallowest parts of Saint Romain. This year the élevage took place in 1700 litre concrete eggs and true to site and form, this is a lively, lean and vertical wine that really blossoms in the glass.
