Catherine & Gilles Vergé

Catherine and Gilles farm 3 hectares of old vine Chardonnay around the village of Vire. Serious and passionate campaigners for natural wine, they are driven by their commitment to producing wines with zero additives and farming with with as much sensitivity as possible.

They've been farming here since the '80s and the vines for the Vieilles Vignes parcel are now over 135 years old. The soils here are a mix of active clay and limestone.

In the winery, fruit is sorted, pressed, racked after 24 hours, fermented and watched diligently for at least 4 years before being run in to bottle. Catherine and Gilles are very firm believers in allowing a wine to go through several seasons of elevage, therefore allowing active bacteria to perform all natural conversions, before the wine goes to bottle. These wines are very stable and are of unbelievable quality. The palate length and balance are quite extraordinary.  

Walking through the vineyards and discussing bio-diversity and nitrogen levels with Gilles is a true education. Such is his preference for slow fermentations and the maximum possible expression of terroir, he avoids managing the flora amongst the vines in a way that encourages higher nitrogen levels in the soil. He explained to me on a visit in 2016 that while he, of course, wants his topsoil to be as healthy as possible, he prefers to have less natural compost by way of grasses lignifying so that the roots have no choice but to descend vertically - thus extracting more minerality and being more expressive of the (phenomenal) terroir. He is happy for his fermentations to take two years and he refuses to put any wine to bottle or on to the market before it's ready.

They are the current president (Catherine) and vice-presidents (Gilles) of Les Vins S.A.I.N.S.

Viré, Macon

 

Information on previous wines

  • Chardonnay grown on a mix of clay and limestone

    2010 From an even, high-acid vintage, resulting in a straight, fine and long structure, with lots of minerality. Not handled oxidatively.

    2009 From a riper vintage, this has extra layers of complexity but with retained freshness. The bung was removed for a brief period during elevage and is more oxidative in style as a result.

    2008 An even, cool year with tense, steely wines made.

    2005 (Selection 216) Only made in the best years and very rare. Rich, round and very long.

    2002 One of the great vintages, this was held back and released in 2016.

  • From a chardonnay parcel just south of Viré planted over young limestone

    2014 Harvested, pressed to tank and rested until bottling in 2017. Not oxidative, like many other cuvees from the domaine. A great vintage, with ripe but crystalline fruit, crisp acidity and a distinct salinity.

    2013 Concentrated and oxidative, with a spectrum of flavours similar to vin jaune albeit with less density and concentration.

    2011 Resting

  • 2013 This cuvee had the bung removed from the tank in a particular window when the sugar was bone dry and during the first third of the rising moon. The bung is taken off the tank and then placed back on 15 minutes later. The style is distinctly oxidative as a result with broad, profound aromatics and a deep yet very fresh palate.

  • 2015 From a single parcel of gamay in Regnie on granite. Vinified as 100% whole bunches with no temperature control or introduced CO2.

  • 2015 This is from the same vineyard as La Petite Garde. The fruit here was picked a little later and then run to bottle prior to going dry. The style is a deep red sparkling.

  • 2017 A challenging vintage, with very little wine made and most of the harvest going into this sparkling wine. Primary fermentation was finished in bottle, and the wine was not disgorged. Lightly sparkling and with lots of concentrated matter, the final wine is pulpy, tense and very long.

  • This 1ha parcel on the outskirts of Viré has some of the oldest chardonnay vines in France, planted just after phyloxera

    2011 From a precocious vintage, this is deeply expressive of site, the front palate being very deep and lightly chalky and with a distinct impression of soil.

  • Chardonnay from a blend of sites and one of the few cuveés to be bottled under appellation (most cuvées are bottled as Vin de Table)

    2007 Medium-bodied and tense, with trademark acidity.

    2004 A good reflection of a cooler year — fine, tense and brittle.