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One of the business partners, François Gilbert, is a PhD geologist, and the other business partner, Philippe Gaillard, is the one with wine marketing expertise who started the internationally acclaimed wine guide. The vineyard at Saint-Chinian, of 25 hectares including 15 hectares of vines, rises up in the hills to 150 to 200 metres into the Natura 2000 nature zone. Soils are of light, loose schist in the higher areas and clay and limestone-dominated lower down.
The vineyard there is undergoing final organic conversion; vines are untreated and grown as bush vines interspersed with wild flowers. It’s a rustic windy spot, with the rustle of breeze and a great natural environment. The philosophy of the Château is to transcribe the notes of their terroir, to the consumer ‘from vineyard to glass’. They plough only with horses, manually harvest and vinify separate parcels. Grapes are de-stemmed and sorted manually. The winery has modern three bottle lines, Italian Nico Velo ‘concrete egg’ fermenters which give big fermentations. Typically after eight to ten days fermentation, maceration is performed according to daily tastings of the juices. The business setup is family-based with involvement from the owners, and some of the children getting involved. Domaine Bizet Chemin du Grand Chambre, 18300 Sury-en-Vaux, France |
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(c) The Clear Wine Company Ltd. 2020
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