Vineyard

The appellation is spread among 4 villages: Pouilly and Fuissé villages are the heart of the AOC and should gather two- thirds of the crus when the classification is submitted.

The village of Vergisson, the northernmost one, is also the coldest and the highest in altitude. It encompasses younger and more rocky soils. The village of Chaintré, the southernmost one, is more sandy and granitic.

The domain has 11 acres (4,2 hectares) on a east-west oriented strip at the same latitude than the village of Pouilly. We are on the best part of the appellation, the central one, which features the jurassic climestones — the geologic substratum of Premiers and Grands Crus in Burgundy. Our vineyard is our chance: 14 different terroirs, spread all along the côte de Pouilly, equally shared from 210 meters to 430 meters altitude, from ‘Aux Combes’ to ‘la Grange Murger’ terroirs.

The vines of Chardonnay, mostly planted in the beginning of the ‘70s, are flowering here with the greatest respect for the vegetal. The whole harvest which usually lasts four days is made by hand and led to the cuvage in small 40 liter cases. Vinifications are following the single-vineyard approach pursued by Brice Laffond and the Parinet family.

Some terroirs of Domaine du Roc des Boutires are of particular interest:
– ‘La Grange Murger’: shallow brown soils formed by gryphaea-rich limestones (1)
– ‘En Bertilionne’: yellow/brown soils formed by limestones with banded marls (2)
– ‘Aux Bouthières’ : brown and clayous soils formed by residual chert-filled clay (3)
– ‘Aux Chailloux’: deep and clayous soils formed by residual chert- and flint-filled clay (4)
– ‘Aux Combes’: no stone soils of clay and limestones (5)
– ‘Vers Cras’: shallow soils formed by white and hard limestones (6)

Winemaking

The berries are driven to the pressoir by gravity, immediately pressed with the whole bunch in order to filtrate the best and most natural way possible. Once the pressurage is done, the juices are cooled down to 8°C (46°F) for 2 days on average in order to make the particles fall in the tank. The cold débourbage enables us to preserve the best quality and primary aromas. Malo-lactique fermentations are happening naturally, bâtonnages are scarce, barrels and tanks are used depending on the profile of the vintage.