“No enterprise could be more determinedly focused on quality than Chêne Bleu.”
We were forced back to the basics, experiencing first-hand how viticulture and winemaking are inextricably linked: to control winemaking style, change how you ‘raise’ your wine-to-be in the vineyard.
To paraphrase Plotinus, everything is One. We view everything at Chêne Bleu as belonging to an intricately balanced ecosystem — the forest, the vineyard, the winery, the winemaker, and the wine drinker.
Medieval meets modern in the Winery: an assemblage of tradition and innovation.
Meticulous hand sorting of clusters and/or berries.
To remain consistent with our non-interventionist growing goals, we agreed on a gravity-fed winery, using the natural slope of our land to feed the grapes and juice straight into the top of the tanks by gravitational pull. Doing this allowed us to avoid pumping, substantially decreasing the risk of oxidation.
This practice enabled us to use minimal sulfur [1/3 to 1/4 of conventional amounts]. We were delighted to find that the reduced sulfur usage showcased the purity of the fruit while supporting the long aging trajectory of our wines. When we do move them around the winery, we use a special peristaltic pump that doesn’t use air in the process.
Punching down the skins to infuse rich flavors into the juice.
We wanted to respect the purity of process and product in the vineyard, so that the ruggedness of the landscape and the wild scents of the garrigue would shine through in the glass, even many years later. The challenge was how to capture and shape this character in the winery without taming it into blandness for the sake of conformity.
The secret was to select the precision-winemaking techniques and technology that support Nature, eliminating the use of chemicals, not just the ones used to ‘homogenize’ the juice stylistically or change its nature. We customised our processes and equipment to support the structure and long-term aging potential of our distinctive, organically farmed grapes.
The Peristaltic Pump making its debut in the new Winery.
Our special hand-sorting teams pull out impurities, even down to double-sorting to check single berries. But we are only as good as the weakest link in the chain. We realized very soon that we needed more control.
The solution was to echo the ‘micro-terroir’ approach we had in the vineyard dividing the grapes into different mini-plots based on their mineral signature. We echo this in the winery, where we combine it with our carefully staggered harvest sequence, to have all the control we need.
We brought in small tanks — then even smaller ones — to ferment the grapes from each of our top blocks or ‘parcelles’ separately. This also meant we could experiment with tailoring our blending [‘assemblage’] to the unique terroir and geological characteristics of each plot. It followed that different tanks hosting different grape varieties should be made from different materials, to optimize nuances and control.
We experimented with a mix of French oak vats, traditional concrete and the latest temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks adapted our winemaking to the aromatic qualities of each vintage, variety and cuvée. In addition, we found a way to fine the wines using organic ingredients including green pea powder [instead of the ubiquitous PVPP micro-plastics], making our rosé and whites more natural, better tasting and vegan-friendly.
Most of our wines now spend at least some time in the finest Burgundian oak barrels, certified from sustainable forests, in the underground cellar oak. We have found that using a variety of carefully selected producers, forests and toasts — some big and famous, some ‘one man bands’ — brings depth, texture and complexity of flavor to the natural expressivity of our juice. The expense and hassle of this elaborate élevage are worth it: well managed, it also accentuates the exceptional aging potential of our wines.
We have experimented with, and ultimately adopted, the viticultural lunar calendar, learning to bottle on ‘flower days’ or ‘fruit days’. After trial and error, we found empirically that this helps to ensure the intensity and vibrancy of our fruits’ aroma, so the bottle captures them at the most auspicious moment.
A brief history of our winemaking world, from vine to wine.
“An all-star vinification team.”
