Domaine Le Fay d’Homme: Vineyards
The domaine is located in Les Coteaux, a little hamlet which sits right on the banks of the Sèvre, just downstream of Clisson and Gorges. There are about 25 hectares of vines all told, which came to Vincent in a rather complicated fashion, inherited from both sides of his family. This explains why his vineyard portfolio is so scattered, there being vines dotted across four different communes. They largely lie on the left bank of the Sèvre, and on the right bank of the Maine, on the finger of land that lies between the two rivers. There are fifty parcels in all, with 14 kilometres between the two most distant vineyards. Naturally the vines are mostly Melon de Bourgogne, with some Gros Plant (otherwise known as Folle Blanche), as well as a little red, four varieties in all, Cabernet Franc, Côt, Abouriou and Gamay.
Several parcels are worthy of specific mention. These include a small parcel with less than 1 hectare of vines (including several rows recently acquired from a neighbour) on orthogneiss which are the source of the Clos de la Févrie cuvée. The parcel is noteworthy as it is where Vincent started his trials of biodynamic viticulture in 2011. The vines here are relatively young, having been planted during the 1990s. He also has vines on gneiss, such as the parcel in Monnières, near the Moulin de la Minière (a focal point for Domaine Ménard-Gaborit), where the bedrock is covered by a thin layer of clay. Here there are some old Melon de Bourgogne vines, planted at an altitude of 60 metres. There is also room for gabbro, with a third parcel near Gorges, the vines planted on a fairly steep slope which looks down onto the Sèvre. Here Vincent has both Melon de Bourgogne and Folle Blanche. These latter two parcels are noteworthy because they give Vincent footholds in the Monnières-Saint-Fiacre and Gorges crus communaux.
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