Description
Notes from Le Grappin winemaker Andrew Nielsen
Vineyard
From two contiguous parcels, one a 44-year-old selection massale planting, the other a 26- year-old selection clonale, at the southern end of the Beaune Premier Cru slope below the famous vineyard of “Clos des Mouches” and next to Pommard’s grand climat “Les Epenots”. This is an iron-rich white soil, rocky at the top, transitioning to more of a marl at the bottom. Having more limestone than neighbouring Pommard, the wines have a fleshy mid-palate paired with suave, silky tannins.
Vinification
Hand-harvested, chilled overnight to ensure the cluster’s turgidity, 5% was destemmed and placed at the bottom of the wooden vat, the rest of the clusters were put on top for a no SO2, native fermentation. The fruit was untouched, save for a daily sparging with CO2, with one pigèage each of the last two days of fermentation. Pressed on the 14th day, the wine finished to dryness in tank before a year in oak barrels of varying ages and sizes along with the finest of lies. Bottled under DIAM 10 without fining or filtration.
About Le Grappin
“My vision for Le Grappin is to seek out special sites in the over-looked, under-appreciated reaches of Burgundy, that tell a story. I search out viticulteurs as maniacal as me, who tend their vines throughout the year, who know their sites and how best to make the site shine. My job is to ensure the wine reaches it’s true potential, working by hand, with small lots, giving each wine as much care and attention as my viticulteurs have paid to the vines. I believe one finds a sense of detail, purity, and focus in my wines as a result. I hope you enjoy the stories my wines have to tell.” – Andrew Nielsen, Le Grappin
