2339667*-od
$72.89 $65.59 price per bottle Expert Advice
| Wine maker notes |
| The Normand holdings in Solutre are divided among 15 parcels, and the wine for this, the classique, come from 30-40-year-old vines. Normally, the wine is made in tank, but in some years a few barrels are also used. Production averages 800 cases in a normal year. The famous Rock of Solutre dominates the skyline, and vineyards come off of its south-eastern flank to dip into a little valley and then climb back up the opposite side to face northeast. The highest and lowest vineyards are classed AOC Macon; the middle of the flanks are reserved for Pouilly-Fuisse. |
| Producer |
| Alain Normand hails from the Loire Valley, but his ancestral home is Normandy, hence his name. That makes him a Norseman-a Viking-and true to form he is a tall, red-headed man. He met Sylvaine, a Burgundian, in the wine school in Beaune. They began their careers by taking over an abandoned vineyard in La Roche-Vineuse with a metayage contract, a common agricultural practice in France whereby the landlord is paid in wine. Today, Alain works the vineyards, makes the wine, and sells off the landlord?s portion to negociants. He keeps the finest for himself. Sylvaine handles the office work when she?s not handling the two children. Domaine Sylvaine & Alain Normand is a typical family domain operation. Alain Normand works eleven hectares (27 acres) in La Roche-Vineuse, an old village nestled on the steep flank of the huge limestone outcropping that gives name to Vineuse. This village sits astride the small pass that cuts through the Macon ridges and leads to Cluny, the seat of power for the Benedictine order of monks in their Medieval heyday. On his hillsides in Vineuse, Alain farms Chardonnay, a little Pinot Noir for AOC Bourgogne Rouge, and a little Gamay for AOC Macon Rouge. Alain Normand of Domaine Sylvaine & Alain Normand In 2003 Alain and Sylvaine inherited a tiny parcel of Pouilly-Fuisse in Solutre from Sylvaine?s father and made about a pallet of wine every year from it. After the harvest of 2009, they inherited the rest of Sylvaine?s family vines-seven hectares (17 acres) total. Three (7 acres) are in AOC Pouilly-Fuisse divided between mostly old-vine parcels in Chaintre (vines are 50-60 years old) to the south and Solutre (vines are 30 to 80 years old) in the northern half of the appellation. The remaining four hectares (10 acres) are on the lower slopes of Chaintre and Solutre and are classed as Macon-Villages. The Normand Pouilly-Fuisse production is now divided along the lines of the Macon production: an old-vine cuvee made in old and new oak, and a classic cuvee made in vat. All four cuvees are raised with long lees contact. It?s worth noting that the two Pouilly-Fuisses bottled at chez Normand all come from the Solutre vineyards. The wine from the Chaintre, a warmer zone, is sold off to the negoc. Alain farms according to the pragmatic principles of lutte raisonnee, or reasoned fight. He plows his vineyards rather than using herbicides, and he doesn?t use pesticides or chemical fertilizers. His methods both in the field and in the cellar are the antithesis of the cooperatives whose wines dominate the Macon trade. |
| ABV: | - |
| Distillery: | - |
| Vintage: | 2017 |
| Region: | - |
| Size: | 750 ml |
| Availability: | Currently Out of Stock |
| Distributed by: | IW |
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