Andrew Guard

2024 Pinot Gris 'Maceration', Jerome Bretaudeau

This is made from a parcel of Pinot Gris grown on pink quartz soil. I don't usually go in for (or sell) maceration wines as I feel that most are homogeneous in taste and mouthfeel - some though are quite special as they posses delicacy and harmony - this is one such. Macerated on skins for 3 weeks then aged in a seasoned foudre and an anfora, it is very fine and elegant glides and tantalizes aromatically and texturally - there is some very fine and supportive tannin on the finish - Pinot Gris a very flexible variety and here it is far from it's traditional French home in Alsace - make no mistake it is at it's apex here and this wine is custom built for today's 'haute' gastronomy. Don't miss this one - decant, relax, enjoy 

After a disastrous frost in 1709 wiped out most of the mediocre red grapes that were originally planted around Nantes, Louis XIV ordered the growers to come up with a white replacement. They chose a Burgundian grape called the melon, actually an offshoot of Gamay, the grape of Beaujolais.

Jerome Bretaudeau set up on his own in 2005 having made wine for others for the previous 10 years, notably Jo Landron at Domaine de la Louvetrie.

His Domaine de Belle-Vue is today one of the leading lights in the region and the quality of his wines is outstanding, indeed there is an underground buzz on these wines amongst France’s best wine bars and bistros.

Three things set him way apart from the rest and are the reason that his wines are so good; he harvests by hand, his vines yield only 35hl/ha (in a region where 90hl/ha is normal!) and he only uses the available natural yeasts for fermentation. With these principles in mind, Bretaudeau stands beside others in our portfolio like Belliviere, Tue-Boeuf and Foillard.