Domaine de la Charmoise: Wines
The fruit is harvested by hand, an uncommon practice in many parts of the Loire Valley, especially in generic appellations such as Touraine. The grapes are sorted and rotten berries discarded, the good fruit collected in small 15-kilogram trays. The grapes are transported to the winery in these trays on tractors, which pass up and down the widely-spaced rows – there is a three metres distance between rows in the majority of Marionnet vineyards – without difficulty. The yields obviously vary, but 50 hl/ha for the whites and up to 60 hl/ha for the reds is typical, although in some years it may be less.
In the cellars the Gamay is fermented using a variation upon carbonic maceration, or fermentation intracellulaire as Henry Marionnet calls it; whole bunches are deposited in stainless steel, the only intervention being a warming of the juice released as the berries at the base of the tank are crushed by those above. Once up to about 25ºC this is returned to the vat and the fermentation, effected mostly by indigenous yeasts, usually comes to an end within about six days, although at this point many of the berries are still intact. Then the wine is pressed and returned to the vat to finish the alcoholic fermentation, followed by the malolactic fermentation. Once completed the wine is protected with sulphur dioxide (although a significant number of cuvées now see no such additions), clarified using Kieselguhr as Marionnet prefers using this rather than letting the wine clear in a more natural, slower process, and bottled. Meanwhile, the Sauvignon Blanc is pressed and chilled to 5ºC before fermentation, also in stainless steel.
Please log in to continue reading: