Wine notebook
THE HARVEST
Manual harvesting
Harvest days at Domaine Breton follow a free yet inspired choreography, in which each family member plays a key role. From the first light of day, Catherine and France guide their teams through the rows, demonstrating how taste, smell, and sight can help us assess the health and ripeness of a grape.
the harvest
Follow the first trucks filled with grapes returning to the Bourgueil cellar, and you'll find Pierre at the head of the sorting table. The harvest is either destemmed or not. It begins alcoholic fermentation in wooden vats, followed by malolactic fermentation, for all our red wines.
White wines are pressed as quickly as possible after harvesting. Malolactic fermentation is not carried out on all vintages.
the transformation
In his wake, Baptiste transforms into juice what will soon become Trinch! or Nuits d'Ivresse at the heart of the intense activity of the Benais winery. Our vinification is carried out with the natural indigenous yeasts specific to each terroir.
Natural Wine: Returning to the Essence of Terroir
Natural wine , also called vin nature , is increasingly appealing to wine lovers seeking authenticity. Produced without chemical additives or invasive oenological techniques, it reflects the purest expression of the grape, the soil and the winemaker's expertise.
What is a natural wine?
A natural wine is made from grapes grown using organic or biodynamic methods , harvested by hand. In the cellar, intervention is minimal: no or very few added sulfites , no exogenous yeast, no fining or aggressive filtration. The goal? To let the wine evolve naturally, without artifice.
Why choose a natural wine?
Natural wine is attractive for several reasons:
- We winegrowers, favoring sustainable practices.
- Our natural wine offers frank aromas, sometimes surprising, but always lively.
- Our artisanal approach emphasizes people and the land, far from standardized productions.
- Our wines are unfiltered, unsulfured (SO2) during fermentation, and lightly sulphurized when bottled.
- Our red wines contain less than 20 mg/litre of total SO2, and less than 50 mg/litre of total SO2 for our white wines
- Our aging is slow, in wooden vats or barrels chosen to correct the tannins
- Our artisanal know-how is based on knowledge of our land and our observation
