Domaine des Ouches: Vineyards
Domaine des Ouches is located directly north and therefore upslope of the village of Ingrandes-de-Touraine. It therefore has several notable neighbours, including Duval Voisin and Lamé Delisle Boucard, both of which you would pass on the drive up to the Gambier brothers’ domaine. It is also only a very short walk westwards to the aforementioned Château de Minière.
The domaine comprises about 16 hectares, and as is the case with many domaines in Bourgueil these vines are located in various parcels dotted around the appellation. As a consequence the portfolio represents at least two of the region’s typical soil types. There are vines on the gravel terraces, lower down the slope, where the reflected warmth from the sun encourages a slightly earlier maturity, and they have vines on the slopes of limestone and clay, where the maturation comes later, and the style of wine can be completely different (and, to my palate, much more convincing).
As far as the approach to the work in the vineyard, this is broadly viticulture raisonnée, in other words conventional viticulture with the use of chemicals but in a restricted, measured fashion, rather than liberal or thoughtless applications. Denis Gambier is keen to point out, however, that while this is true for the vines which provide fruit for the two Vin 20 entry-level cuvées from the more gravelly soils, in the various clay-and-limestone lieux-dits such as Clos Boireaux they prefer to work the soil in preference to using chemical herbicides.
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