Domaine de la Tournelle - Evelyne Clairet

Our philosophy is to produce grapes without chemicals, using only our own hands. This is far removed from the image of organic farming with its neglected, overgrown plots. Our wines come exclusively from our own vines! We don't buy grapes or wine; only grapes from our own vineyards, hand-picked by us, are used to make wine.

Our vineyards are grassed every other row to allow tractor access, and the grass is controlled under the vines by hand or mechanically. The other rows are tilled with inter-row cultivators because grass is the number one enemy of organic farming. To produce wines without added inputs, we strive to grow beautiful, ripe, and healthy grapes. New plantings are done exclusively through massal selection (the vines are propagated from older vines in our plots, not from clones of the grape variety). We use double or single Guyot pruning, with short cuts to achieve the right balance between vegetative, reproductive, and economic yields, aiming for approximately 40 hectoliters per hectare. The entire vineyard is maintained without chemical herbicides through tilling, hilling, budding, hoeing, etc. We apply organic amendments every three years, using horse manure compost; no chemical fertilizers are used. Only Bordeaux mixture, sulfur, silica, horn manure, and other biodynamic preparations ensure the quality of the grapes. Certified organic (AB) in 2010. Hand-harvested in 20 kg crates without crushing, rigorously sorted in the vineyard. Gentle whole-cluster pressing in a pneumatic press. Vinification without added SO2. Indigenous yeasts from our terroir. Seeking minerality, aged in oak barrels on fine lees (no new oak), in cool vaulted cellars, topped up weekly. Bottled unfiltered and without added sulfur.