DOMAINE DE MANDELOT, COTEAUX BOURGUIGNONS LA BOTTIERE ROSE 2023

A chance discovery led me to this estate, a tip-off from Arnaud Chapuis, after I asked if there was anyone new in the region working in a similar fashion to himself. Arnaud, who doesn't waste his words, told me to contact Francois and check out his estate, in Mavilly-Mandelot, close by. They worked together at Chandon de Brialles. You don't ignore Arnaud... We drove down to the estate, a beautiful old chateau, huge and being restored by it's owners. In the centre of the estate, there is a huge building previously used for farm equipment, which has been restored and filled with tanks and downstairs barrels. François took us around the estate, deep into conversion to organics, fields planted with fava, clover and other plants in the vines to help with the nitrogen levels. 

The Mandelot estate starting with a chance meeting with François Grangé & his new neighbours, (he lives on a farm less than a kilometer from the estate.) At the time, he had been working at the Chandon de Briailles estate for more than 15 years had also started a small family breeding of Mangalitza pigs.

He  had invited his neighbors for aperitifs, they had just bought the property and the rental of the vineyards was coming to an end. The owners do not work in wine and do not live on site, tand upon hearing of François work asked if he was interested in creating an estate for them. He liked the project, he said yes!

The 2023 vintage is the second year of production, 2022 was sold in grapes. 2023 is the second year of conversion to organic. They vinified 6 hectares in 2023. For 4.5 hectares, the vines are plowed by horse. In addition to organic treatment, they use skimmed milk to fight against powdery mildew instead of sulfur in the vines. The yields are reasonable and the harvest is manual, of course.

They have very few young vines, the youngest are around thirty years old, except for the 2 hectares that we are currently replanting. Our soil is mainly clay, with very little limestone, some plots have a little sand. We use plant covers in plots made with horses, to increase the microbiology of the soils

The vinification, aging and bottling of the 2023 are completely without inputs, neither SO2, nor acid, nor sugar and yeast.

LA BOTTIERE 2023 

The Coteaux Bourguignon Rosé “la Bottière” comes from 80% old Gamay vines, on clay-sandy soils, and 20% from a Pinot Noir vine. The Gamays were pressed and vinified in vats, the hand-stemmed Pinots were macerated in the Gamay throughout the fermentation period. The wine was bottled at the end of April 2023.

Bright fresh and aromatic, this is brimming with pink fruit, the perfect wine for the summer months and to lift the other ones!