Brouilly comes from 65 year old vines, grown on clay, volcanic soils. Yields are minuscule, averaging 25 to 3o hl/ha. The wine undergo carbonic maceration for about 18 days then is aged in 2000 l wooden vats. Floral and packed with red fruits, the wine is powerful and extremely delicate.
Rémi& Laurence DUFAITRE, Domaine de Botheland, Saint-Étienne-des-Oullières Organic, Natural
Rémi is a member of the informal group that has evolved from Kermit Lynch’s “gang of four,” the producers in Morgon who studied with natural-wine-pioneer Jules Chauvet (winemaker and biologist) and make natural wine (Foillard among them). This group has grown to include younger winemakers like Rémi, who are working with the same philosophy.
Rémi makes wines in a classic carbonic style, using whole bunches, which are carefully sorted to avoid broken grapes or rot. He adds some carbon dioxide gas to protect the grapes at the beginning of fermentation, and does not use any temperature control. He avoids foot stomping the grapes unless he sees some volatile starting to creep in. His goal is to have as little juice in the tank as possible. He also performs routine analysis to see how the yeast is performing. Remi makes all his wines with the same method, thus we can really see and taste the differences between the sites, with minor differences in the elevage of each cuvée. He tastes each cuvée before bottling, and may decide to add between zero and 2 mg of sulfur, depending on how stable he judges the wine to be.