Domaine Sérol - 'Turbullent' - Gamay St. Romain - Côte Roannaise, Loire Valley, FR - 2022

Appellation: Côte Roannaise

Site & Vines: Gamay Saint Romain

All estate fruit. Primarily an early harvest from a variety of high density parcels.

Vinification & Aging: We harvest all grapes by hand before carefully sorting them in the cellar. Developed by the “ancestral method”. Direct pressing and decanted juice cold. Alcoholic fermentation in cement at low temperature without sugar addition until 7% vol. Bottling to go on the fermentation to 8.5% Vol and 5 bars of pressure. Bottles disgorged to remove the deposit.

Notes: So deliciously addictive this wine is fondly referred to as "crack" by many a fan. Off dry with 7g rs. The sweetness is counter-balanced by plenty of natural acidity and enough granite backbone to realize that this is a wine with some serious pedigree.

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Certified Organic

The Côte Roannaise may be little known but the wines stand out boldly and speak for themselves, whether it's the luscious, off-dry sparkling gamay "Turbullent," the delicate and precise bone dry still rosé "Cabochard", or the dense and spicy south -eastern exposed single parcel "Oudan". Technically part of the Loire Valley but actually much closer to Beaujolais, it is 50 km west of Morgon in the Monts de Madeleine, close to the Loire River's source in the Massif Central. Gamay reigns supreme in this high elevation site perched on a vein of granite, and the domaine's myriad single parcels capture nuanced expressions of place and make for extremely compelling wines.

The domaine dates back to the 18th century, Stéphane is the 5th generation to work this land and he and his wife Carine have done much to elevate the recognition of their appellation, Gamay Saint Romain - the locally adapted version of Gamay native to the area, and they have also done much to spread the good practice word about responsible farming. Today they have close to 30 hectares, the oldest vines are 80 years old and, the domain is certified organic and in the process of converting parcel by parcel to Demeter certification.

The domaine is devoted to the locally adapted Gamay Saint Romain, densely planted (9000 vines per hectare) over a number of high elevation parcels with varying exposures. Gamay Saint Romain tends to have smaller bunches and berries that are more prone to millerandage or being shot than the more commonly planted Gamay à jus noir. This often translates to a more concentrated expression of the fruit.

The high vine density allows them to keep yields per vine low and quality very high. It's a vineyard management philosophy that encourages vines to grow their root systems deep as the vines compete with each other for limited water and nutrients and the character of the fruit is driven by the subsoil.

Stéphane has expanded and modernized his father's cellar so that he is able to vinify each parcel separately in cement tanks. This allows him to adapt to each parcel's needs and perfectly capture those distinctive qualities in each individual cuvée.