M. Chapoutier La Combe Pilate Viognier

Description

M. Chapoutier La Combe Pilate Viognier is white wine bottled as an Indication Geographic Protegee Collines Rhodaniennes. The IGP Collines Rhodaniennes is an appellation which essentially covers the vineyards of the northern Rhone, stretching from Lyon in the north to Montélimar in the south. It is part of the Chapoutier’s “Alchemy” range of wines.

Maison Chapoutier has grown into one of the largest and most recognisable producers of Rhone wines. The company dates back to 1808 when Michel Chapoutier’s distant ancestor Polydor Chapoutier bought a parcel of vines in the Rhone Valley. Today the Chapoutier has vineyards throughout the Rhone from Côte Rôtie in the north to Luberon in the south as well as having overseas projects like Domaine Tournon in Victoria, Australia. Michel is committed to making the best wines whilst respecting the environment. Chapoutier now owns the largest biodynamic vineyard in Europe. It is his personal conviction that “the complexity in a wine comes from the level of microbiological activity around the vine roots”. Soils on the Chapoutier estate never see pesticides or herbicides, floral growth amongst the vines is essential, and the natural cycles of the earth, sun and moon are also considered.

M. Chapoutier La Combe Pilate Viognier Winemaking

The grapes for the M. Chapoutier La Combe Pilate Viognier are sourced from vineyards sited on clay, quartz pebbles, limestone gravel and loess. Areas with leptynites (gneissic metamorphic rock) granitoids. This is 100% Viognier. After harvest, there is direct pressing of the whole bunches followed by a selection of the best juices from the pressing. There is a period of settling followed by fermentation in old 600 litre oak barrels and then 8 to 9 months of ageing in stainless vats. The wine undergoes malolactic fermentation and there is a very light stirring up of the lees (batonnage) during the first months of ageing.

As with all Chapoutier’s wines, this wine features braille on the label.