Domaine de la Pépière: Vineyards
In many cases the nuances of the Domaine de la Pépière vineyard, both in terms of terroir and specific parcels that are in Rémi and Gwénaëlle’s possession, come through in the range of wines. For that reason in my examination of the vineyard I will look mostly at generalities, with more specific details on the various parcels provided in my account of the many Pépière cuvées given below.
All told Rémi and Gwénaëlle have approximately 42 hectares of vines to work with, a figure that has climbed from the 34 hectares they had when Rémi joined in 2010, with most of the growth accrued through purchasing parcels from retiring neighbours. Of the 42 hectares the majority, around 37 hectares, are planted to white varieties (mainly Melon de Bourgogne, obviously) while the remaining 5 hectares are red (the two Cabernets, Côt and Merlot).
A large part of the vineyard, about 10 hectares with the recent addition of parcels, surrounds the domaine, including the vines of Briords, while other vines lie more distant on both Granite de Clisson and Granite de Château Thébaud. They also have a couple of hectares on gneiss, in the Monnières-Saint-Fiacre zone, including vines in Les Gras Moutons. Although granite dominates the portfolio, it is not as common a terroir as you might imagine, accounting for only 5% of the entire Muscadet vineyard, so Marc and Rémi are blessed to have such a significant chunk.
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