Josette & Jean-Bernard Sourdais / Wijnbeurs Lille 2009 : standnummer : C - 28 * Before the age of 30, Bertrand Sourdais had already made an impressive name for himself at Spain’s Dominio de Atauta. In the process of revealing a new terroir from Atauta’s ancient, ungrafted vines, Bertrand learned many invaluable lessons. The most important of these was the need to think critically about every single step in the viticulture and winery work. This process at Atauta also got Bertrand to start questioning the existing orthodoxies in his native Chinon.
By 2003, Bertrand determined to return to France and take up the challenge of his beloved Cabernet Franc. His father’s estate, Domaine de Pallus, is located in the heart of the appellation and is blessed with some of Chinon’s choicest vineyards. With vines averaging over 35 years old, Pallus held all the potential Bertrand could hope for. Beginning with the 2003 harvest, Bertrand has begun his quest to find the ultimate limit for Pallus.
(Source : www.polanerselections.com) ---------------------------------------------- * Bertrand Sourdais is a young winemaker born and raised in the Loire Valley, where his family have been making wine at Domaine de Pallus, in Chinon for five generations. He studied enology in Bordeaux, at the renowned Blanquefort school, where he met Ricardo Perez Palacios, nephew to Alvaro Palacios (of the emblematic winecellar of Bierzo which makes the Corullon). Their meeting and friendship lead Bertrand to Dominio de Atauta in 1999. Ever since, he has been proclaiming his love of the soil, the pre-phylloxera rootstock and the peculiar local Tinto Fino variety he encountered at Atauta, a small town in the province of Soria, in the Ribera's del Duero's less familiar reaches. His resume includes training in Bordeaux (at Mouton Rothschild and Leoville Las Cases) and Chile (Santa Rita), amongst others. While achieving stardom in Spain Bertrand remained passionate for his native Chinon, and for its variety, Cabernet Franc. And so it was inevitable that he would someday apply his gifts at his family's estate, Domaine de Pallus in the appellation's heart in Cravant-les-Coteaux and chart a new course - to honor Chinon's soil and its ancient traditions. Of course, he has completely rethought the winemaking process; he applied biodynamic farming to his vineyards, employed an extended maceration up to thirty days and avoided the mistakes typically made by modernists. The results of his efforts have been a string of utterly profound and critically acclaimed wines. (Source : www.creamwine.com) Lists: Chinon, Frankrijk, Loire rood, SALON Vign. Ind. LILLE, Te proberen, Vigneron Indépendant Reviewed 3 years ago |
