Domaine Pellé: Vineyards
The domaine is situated on the outskirts of Morogues, a small village about ten miles to the west of the appellation of Sancerre, and which is the spiritual heart of the Menetou-Salon appellation. The town of Menetou-Salon itself lies to the west, about five kilometres distance. To the north is a ridge of Cenomanian and Barremian (both Cretaceous) sands, clays and occasionally a little flint, running roughly west-east. As you descend from this ridge older Kimmeridgian layers are exposed, specifically Saint Doulchard marl and Buzançais limestone, before these in turn give way to reveal even older Oxfordian limestones. It is on these Kimmeridgian marls and limestones, rich in minute marine fossils, that the vines of Menetou-Salon including those of Domaine Pellé are located. These Kimmeridgian and Oxfordian layers run eastwards through Montigny, and are thus directly contiguous with the limestones of Sancerre.
There are just short of 40 hectares of vines all told, about 33 hectares in Menetou-Salon Morogues, a few hectares entitled only to the basic Menetou-Salon appellation and 4 hectares in Sancerre. Most of the Menetou-Salon Morogues vines run on the strip of Kimmeridgian marl already described above. In Sancerre the Pellé vines are planted on limestone caillottes (usually also Kimmeridgian) while the 2 hectares that are rented are on Kimmeridgian marl.
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