"From Comblanchien with love". Located just to the south of Nuits-Saint-Georges, the village Comblanchien is very few discussed among Burgundy drinkers. In Antoine's mind, the terroirs are hugely undervalued so he treats the vineyards as if they are Grand Crus.
In 2016, the Domaine began to certify their vineyards organic and the quality of the wines increases year by year. Ploughing is done with horse labour in a way to limits soil compaction. And of course, the lunatic cycle is taken into consideration. The decision of going biodynamic is a commitment toward nature and to better level their wines.
Boundaries are meant to be pushed. Antoine emphasizes the terroir of the Cote de Nuits Villages when back in the day no one cares. He is now training vines higher, like Lalou Bize-Leroy and Charles Lachaux. He is now doing long elevage Aligote in barrels, the moment we tasted it was aged 1.5 years and already mind-blowing (will stay 2 more years in barrel). Amphoras, of course, how would he not have some!
The attention he embeds into the vineyards elucidated the uplifted quality of these mostly regional application wines. As years go by, the practice of organic and biodynamic farming ameliorated the vines of Antoine emphatically, “I don't make the wine, the wine makes himself, you don't have to work a lot when you have healthy grapes”.
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