Rene Lequin Colin, Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru AOC Les Caillerets

About Rene Lequin Colin

Fran ois Lequin family have been vignerons in Santenay since 1673. The upshot is the 11-hectare inheritance Fran ois Lequin now holds in his hands: a carefully constructed collection of parcels divided between Santenay and Chassagne-Montrachet, with additional holdings in Pommard and Nuits-St.-Georges. Since 2014, Fran ois has also been involved in Domaine des Crets, where he and a partner bring a C te d Or sensibility to 4 hectares of vines in the northern M connais. Over the past century, Santenay has gone from being a stronghold for pinot noir to a carve-out for chardonnay. Now I would say it s 15-20% white, especially in the parcels close to the village itself. The grapes for all crus are harvested by hand and pick time is determined by acidity level, not sugar. For the chardonnay, he uses a pneumatic press, but presses very slowly, between three and a half and four hours per press. He then lets the juice go-to-brown to oxidize all the unstable, oxidative components, then lets it settle for a full year before racking. On average, the goal is to have only 10% new oak for the alcoholic and malolactic fermentation for the chardonnay. Prior to malolactic, light b ttonage is done and after malolactic, the chardonnay is left on the full lees until just before harvest; the wines are bottled in December. Fran ois goal is to use as little SO2 as possible while assuring the wine is clean and stable. For pinot noir, when the grapes come in, a determination is made as to how much the whole cluster will be included.