Domaine de la Cotelleraie: Vineyards
Speaking first in general terms, as I have already espoused the vineyards are all managed using organic methods. Gérald Vallée uses the plough and the hoe rather than herbicides to control weeds, and any vine maladies that appear are treated with wettable sulphur and copper sulphate only.
The vines across his 27-hectare slice of the St Nicolas de Bourgueil appellation are 100% Cabernet Franc, and this is perhaps not surprising as unlike Chinon there is no room for white varieties in the Bourgueil and St Nicolas de Bourgueil appellations. The vineyards are all scattered along the corridor of vines that runs west-east here, roughly along the course of the D35, the main road that also runs through the village; they are bounded by the alluvial palus to the south, and the woodlands to the north.
There are a number of notable lieux-dits which translate through into the Cotelleraie portfolio, but I will bring out what I know of these in my discussion of the wines, below.
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