DOMAINE DE LA VERPAILLE
Viré-Clessé, France
From their estate in heart of Viré-Clessé husband and wife team Philippe and Estelle Baptiste manage their twenty organically certified hectares of vines throughout the Mâconnais. Philippe's family has been farming grapes in the area since 1880, and he represents the fifth generation to do so. Both he and Estelle hold a BTS in Viticulture and Oenology, and they worked the family estate together for four years before beginning to adopt corners of it as their own. Now the property and holdings are entirely under their control.
It has been almost twenty years since they decided to move towards organic viticulture, finishing the certification process in 2009, and it has become second nature to them. They plow their soils manually, those of the Maconnais' signature clay-limestone deposits, and use only copper and a bit of sulfur in the way of vine treatments.
Even for their entry-level Mâcon-Villages bottling, the vines are aged over 100 years; Vieilles Vignes means something very tangible here. They yield wines of truly Burgundian depth and character. The Baptistes efforts are attained through slow fermentation on native yeasts and lees ageing, usually between 9 and 14 months. They do not chaptalize whatsoever. The wine showcases full phenolic ripeness and a tempered hand in the winery - full and rich enough to satisfy modern Chardonnay palates, but with an unmistakable sense of place.
Wines