Domaine du Clos Naudin: Wines
The vinifications are carried out in the cellars which sit on the opposite side of the road to the Foreau residence and which extend deep into the rock face, beneath the vines of Le Mont. Barrels and vats for fermentation and blending are held near the cellar entrance (the very first gallery is pictured below), while the deeper galleries cut by Armand, extended by André and extended again by Philippe in response to the voluminous 1986 vintage sit behind. Here the humidity is good, the temperature steady at 12ºC despite the rising heat outside, and the conditions thus perfect for storing wine in barrel and bottle. There is no active ventilation to the cellar, just a single ‘chimney’ which passes up through the four metres of rock overhead into the vineyard above. There is also a second cave, dedicated purely to the production of sparkling wines, the bottles stored in traditional pupitres, the remuage carried out by hand.
The harvest is carried out by hand, as is required for Vouvray, where picking is usually done in tries, in order to partition up the harvest into sec, demi-sec and moelleux portions, and of course to select out botrytised and passerillé fruit. The ultimate yields are typically in the order of 35 hl/ha.
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