LUCAS MADONIA, CHÈROUCHE 2024

Lucas Madonia started his adventure in Valais at the end of 2021. In 2022 on 1 ha, in 2023 1.7 ha and 2024 1.5 ha. Having spent time working with Marc Soyard at Domaine de la Cras and Tony Bornard in the Jura he started his own project on the steep terraced vineyards of the Valais, located in and around Ayent, between 600 and 820 meters above sea level. The terroir is quite fantastic and the altitude offers the potential to make wine with a beautiful balance of concentration and freshness. 

 The soils are mainly composed of Schists and Limestone, but also of Loess, Quartz, Clays and others. The terraced vineyard prevents any mechanization of winemaking tasks. 

Grass management is done with the backpack brush cutter. The organic treatments (<1kg copper ha) are carried out using a backpack atomizer. The harvest is taken out on the shoulder. 

In the burgundian style of his origins he tends to bottle by plot, looking for terroir that excites him.. Destemming is manual and is done through sifting. Macerations last 25 days on average. Aging takes place in old Burgundian barrels from 228L to 600L. The whites are pressed on the day of the harvest then sent in 400L barrels. All bottling is done by gravity from the barrel itself. All wines are without inputs and without sulphites.

Chèrouche 2024

pinot noir 70% gamay 30% 850m (calcoshiste+loess). Vines are in the same place as the Cherouche domaine which is just named after the area, a really remote vineyard with incredibly low yields. It gives amazing depth of fruit with a lovely texture, this is really sensational and drinking very well already. In the cooler vintage of 2024, there is no lack of intensity in the fruit, the gift of the Valais! Very limited quantities.