Harvesting
by hand
During the harvest, the challenge is to pick the grapes at the right time. Observation and detailed knowledge of our plots, together with measurements and analyses of ripeness, enable us to decide on the right day for harvesting.
The proximity of our plots means that we can bring the freshest grapes back to the winery. We harvest by hand in buckets and then in racks, so there’s no need to crush the bunches, which are sorted directly in the vineyard.
Our working space offers us numerous possibilities for direct pressing with or without settling or maceration.
Native yeasts
We work to ensure the life and health of our vines. This energetic environment allows us to produce a healthy, dynamic wine. The week before the harvest, we pick beautiful bunches of grapes from all over the estate, as we move around the plots. The grapes are destemmed and vatted, fresh. Fermentation starts spontaneously and after a few days, we draw off the fermenting grape juice: this is the leaven.
Like a baker, we take a portion of this boiling juice each day to seed our vats. The leaven is supplemented with fresh juice to maintain and restart the fermentation process.
This artisan choice is motivated by the desire to make the most of our terroir.
Cellars
Our winery is in the Nantes tradition: most of the vats are underground. Their capacity ranges from 23 hL to 95 hL. The floor is dotted with hatches giving access to the concrete vats, which have tiled or glazed walls. This configuration frees up a great deal of space, enabling the wine to be matured on its lees in the most appropriate and high-quality way.
600-litre demi-muids are used for vinification and ageing of our Folle Blanche and red wine macerations.
Our 500-litre stoneware jars, white because they are rich in Limoges kaolin, are used for our exceptional cuvées, for which micro-oxygenation throughout the maturing process is essential.
Finally, the winery is completed by stainless steel and concrete vats, modern and perfect for the vinification and ageing of our red wines.
Ageing
Once fermentation is complete, we close the vats and let time do its work. The yeasts have finished their work and slowly settle to the bottom to form the lees. We sometimes stir the lees in a vat during the winter, in other words, put the lees back into suspension to enrich the wine.
Throughout the ageing process, which lasts from 6 months to over 2 years, we intervene regularly … by tasting! It’s our way of keeping a close eye on our wines and getting to know them well.
Bottling
From the spring following the harvest, the wines are bottled one after the other. When the tasting confirms it, and sometimes after long discussions and reflections on the blends, we decide on the bottling date.
This crucial stage is the final act in our work as artisan winemakers. With the greatest respect for the wine, bottling takes place on the fruit day or the flower day, under inert gas and in good spirits!
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Every time we meet you, we share some news about the estate and its development. On a weekly basis, we communicate on social networks, aiming to deliver content that allows readers to understand a little more about the story behind each bottle of wine.
🇫🇷 Vive les vacances avec un bon bulletin de note pour ce deuxième trimestre : un 87 pour Phileas et un 90 pour notre La Haye Fouassière, décerné par le très prestigieux @wine_spectator.
Pas de conseil de classe pour recevoir les félicitations, mais nous sommes tout de même très fiers et chanceux de figurer sur ce palmarès.
🇺🇸 Long live the vacations with a good report card for this second quarter: an 87 for Phileas and a 90 for our La Haye Fouassière, awarded by the highly prestigious Winespectator.
No class council to receive the congratulations, but we`re still very proud and lucky to be on this list.
#lestroistois #vertou #winemaker #vigneronindependant #nantes #muscadet #vinsdeloire #vignoblenantais #vinsdenantes @les_extra_terrestres @vertou @muscadetvinsdenantes
🇫🇷 Ce lundi 14 avril est un jour fondateur pour l`avenir résilient du domaine : sur un sol régénéré, non labouré en profondeur, nous plantons Melon B., Abouriou, Villard noir et Selenor, un mix de cépage historique et identitaire, de cépage rustique et de cépage résistant.
Cette plantation est intégrée dans le parc de La Ville au Blanc que nous remettons en paysage depuis deux ans désormais. Ces vignes, dans leur diversité, vont nous permettre de produire dans un environnement climatique changeant tout en gardant notre identité ligérienne.
Cette plantation est l`aboutissement d`un long travail de fond mené avec l`équipe de paysagiste @laplumeetlesecateur, ainsi qu`avec les @pepinieres_mercier et Gentié.
Nous remercions sincèrement l`accompagnement professionnel qu`ils nous ont apporté et les échanges visionnaires que nous avons eus.
🇺🇸 This Monday, April 14, is a founding day for the resilient future of the estate: on regenerated soil, not ploughed in depth, we plant Melon B., Abouriou, Villard noir and Selenor, a mix of historical and identity grape varieties, hardy grape varieties and resistant grape varieties.
This plantation is part of the La Ville au Blanc park, which we`ve been restoring to landscape for two years now. The diversity of these vines will enable us to produce in a changing climatic environment while retaining our Loire identity.
This planting is the culmination of a long and in-depth project carried out with the landscaping team La Plume et le Sécateur, and the nurserymen Mercier and Gentié.
We sincerely thank them for their professional support and the visionary discussions we had.
#lestroistois #vertou #winemaker #vigneronindependant #domaineviticole #agriculturebiologique #nantes #cepages #vinbio #terroir #villeaublanc #cepagesresistants @villedevertou
🇫🇷 Pète et Gros-Pète sont dans un bateau ; Pète tombe à l`eau. Qui est-ce qui reste ⁉️
Gros-Pète...
Et oui, notre Gros Plant du Pays Nantais nous accompagne fidèlement et nous permet de remporter une médaille d`or au concours des vins de Vertou.
Compagnonne résistante, la Folle Blanche menée autrefois en mode sur productif, nous offre aujourd`hui tous ses atouts : débourrement tardif, bois dur, feuillage épais, acidité naturelle, ...
On adore cette rusticité unique que l`on habille en vin tranquille en macération et en bulles.
🇺🇸 Pète and Gros-Pète are in a boat; Pète falls overboard. Who`s left ⁉️
Gros-Pète...
And yes, our Gros Plant du Pays Nantais is our faithful companion, helping us win a gold medal at the Vertou wine competition.
A hardy companion, Folle Blanche was once over-produced, but now offers us all its assets: late budding, hard wood, thick foliage, natural acidity...
We love this unique rusticity, which we dress up in still wine, maceration and bubbles.
📷 @paul.stefanaggi
#lestroistois #vignoblenantais #winemaker #paysnantais #vinnature #petnat #petillantnaturel #folleblanche #produitslocaux #vertou
🇫🇷 Prendre de la hauteur, s`élever ... 🌳
Voilà ce que l`on va proposer à nos vignes dans les prochains mois et année sur notre secteur de la Ville au Blanc.
En s`inspirant de la nature originelle de la vigne et dans une quête de qualité hors productivisme, nous allons marier la vigne à l`arbre.
Nous n`inventons rien ; les Etrusques l`ont mené avant nous avec une conduite dite `arbusive de la vigne`.
Pour notre part, nous utiliserons les beaux sujets que les friches nettoyées nous ont offerts, ainsi que la lisière des bois que l`on sanctuarise.
Nous allons ainsi réinventer notre manière de travailler et réinventer notre vin.
🇺🇸 Climbing, rising ...
That`s what we`re going to propose to our vines in the coming months and years in our Ville au Blanc sector.
Inspired by the vine`s original nature, and in a quest for quality that`s free from productivism, we`re going to marry the vine with the tree.
We`re not inventing anything; the Etruscans did it before us, with what they called “shrubby vine management”.
For our part, we`re going to make use of the beautiful subjects that the cleaned-up wasteland has offered us, as well as the edges of the woods that we`re making sanctuary for.
We`re going to reinvent our way of working and reinvent our wine.
#lestroistois #vertou #winemaker #vigneronindependant #nantes #agroecologie #vitiforesterie #villeaublanc #agricultureresponsable @les_extra_terrestres @villedevertou
🇫🇷 Tous en formation ! 🌱
Depuis 2021, nous avons investi pour renouveler notre encépagement et gagner en résilience. Nous avons donc désormais 3.5 ha de ceps en formation !
Cela signifie que nous taillons les ceps, non pas pour optimiser la production de raisin de l`année, mais pour implanter le plant au mieux et le former pour une belle résistance pour les années futures.
Un travail de patience, d`observation et de prise de décisions dont les futures générations bénéficieront.
1 - Cep de Gamay en année 4, planté en avril 2021 en belle capacité de production
2 - Cep de Folle Blanche en année 3, planté en avril 2022, en pleine vigueur
3 - Cep de Melon en année 2, planté en avril 2023 prêt à nous offrir une demi-vendange
4 - Cep de Melon B. planté en mai 2024, ayant souffert d`excès d`eau
🇺🇸 All in creation!
Since 2021, we`ve been investing to renew our vine stock and gain in resilience. We now have 3.5 ha of vines in creation!
This means that we prune the vines, not to optimize the year`s grape production, but to establish the plant in the best possible position and train it for resilience in future years.
It`s a job of patience, observation and decision-making that will benefit future generations.
1 - Gamay vine in year 4, planted in April 2021 with good production capacity
2 - Folle Blanche vine in year 3, planted in April 2022, in full vigor
3 - Cep of Melon in year 2, planted in April 2023, ready to offer us a half harvest.
4 - Cep of Melon B. planted in May 2024, having suffered from excess water”.
#lestroistois #vertou #winemaker #vigneronindependant #nantes #vigne #agricultureresponsable #cep
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