Description
This is a classy chardonnay that combines power and elegance with a depth of flavours that would make some top burgundy producers envious. It comes from the Les Combes lieu-dit, where vines are planted over heavy, clayey red marlstone. The Chardonnay vines here were replanted in the sixties and have matured to yield fruits of great depth and intensity. Two thirds of the wine was aged concrete, with the balance spending time in old oak barrels.
The road to establishing Les Dolomies was long, but the quality of Céline and Steve Gormally’s wines is there to show for it. The couple initially rented a small 0.5Ha parcel in Passenans while working for other producers in the Jura, including the domaines Labet, Badoz, and St-Pierre. With the help of Terre De Liens, an organisation that supports agroecological farmers in securing land, they then bought another hectare in 2008 and created Les Dolomies – a reference to Passenans’ dolomitic rock, a salty magnesium-rich limestone. Nowadays, the couple farm 5.5ha of vines, scattered around 10 plots in five villages, including the prestigious Château-Chalon, with a potential of 6.5ha once the restructure and ongoing plantations are completed.
Wild yeast fermentation and bottling without fining or filtration have always been the norm. The whites are whole bunch pressed, until recently they were vinified in smaller barrels (228ltr, 350ltr) with tricky fermentations that used to linger over a year; this led to the addition of homeopathic doses of SO2 for protection (30mg/l total).
13.5%/750ml
