Vallet Frères Santenay Les Gravières 1er Cru, AOP Santenay 2022

Production

One of a handful of producers in the Cote d'Or who continue to use ultra-traditional winemaking techniques. Grapes are selected from vines of a minimum 15 years of age; whole bunches are fermented in open top wooden vats using only natural yeasts and no temperature control; the grapes are left on their skins for at least 20 days and the 'cap' is trodden down by the oldest method - by feet! All this extracts as much colour, tannins and fruit as possible but in relation to ripeness and quality of the appellation. The wine is then put into French oak barrels where it matures for a minimum of two years with racking off two or three times a year (to gently remove natural deposits). They don't have a fancy bottling line here - usually a pipe is inserted into each barrel which is joined to four taps, and the wine flows by gravity straight from barrel into the bottles without any filtration and just a candle to check that it's clear!