Le Picatier: Vineyards
Le Picatier is located to the west of Roanne, in the shadows of the Monts de la Madeleine. These mountains sit at the northern end of the Massif Central, overlooking the plain of Roanne, and mark the boundary between the Allier and Loire départements. Le Picatier thus sits at an altitude of 400 metres, and the terroir is a mix of coarse-grained and porphyritic granite. The domaine today covers 8.5 hectares, with most of the vines encircling the Pialoux house. About 3 hectares are planted on quite deep soils over granite, but a slim majority is on much thinner soils, the vines digging their roots directly into the bedrock.
When they acquired the domaine in 2007 there was mostly Gamay planted here, accounting for 5.3 hectares, with 1 hectare each of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Today these vines remain, and they form the core of the domaine. They are aged between 20 and 45 years, and planted at densities between 3,000 and 6,000 vines per hectare. As already noted in my introduction, however, Christophe and Géraldine planted some new vines in 2009, augmenting these original vineyards. Thus they now also have 0.6 hectares of Viognier and 0.3 hectares each of Roussanne and Aligoté, all planted at 6,000 vines per hectare.
Please log in to continue reading: