Montserre (Sans Souffre)

Region: Burgundy
Grape: Chardonnay
Vineyard Size:
Soil: clay, limestone
Average Age of Vines:
Farming: organic, biodynamic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking: spontaneous fermentation in old oak with indigenous yeasts
Aging: in old oak
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added S02: none

Athénaïs de Béru

The Béru family has owned the historical Château de Béru domain for 400 years.

Until the philloxera crisis, when all the vines were uprooted, at the beginning of the 20th century, the domain used to rely solely on the wine for its revenues. It was only in 1987, that the Comte Éric de Béru, out of passion for wine, undertook to replant the entire vineyard, and in particular, the famous Clos Béru.

His wife, Laurence and their daughter Athénaïs are now running the domain. They have invested considerable means to improve the production quality and give a fresh start to the domain. These tremendous efforts and the choice to adopt organic farming are beginning to bear fruits, and are noticeable in the vintages that have been vinified by Athénais and her team since 2004.

The Chablis covers a wide area and offers very contrasted types of terroirs. In the particular case of the Château de Béru, the domain’s parcels cover a total of 8 hectares. They all are located in the Béru area and give wines that express the mineral and iodised notes typical of the village wines.

The vines are 30 years old. They are conducted in guyot double shoot, the density of plantation is 6500 feet per hectare.

Considerable improvements have been made since 2006, noticeably in the organic prevention of diseases, in the trellising, biodynamic practices, and in the soil work. General information on their practice:

Grape Variety
100% Chardonnay

Terroir
The Chablis of the domain is produced in a vineyard located on the top of the hill of Béru, above 300 meters. Its terroir was formed during the Kimmeridgian era and is mainly composed of crushed limestone and marine fossils.

Vineyard
The vines are approximately 30 years old. The pruning system is guyot double shape. 6500 vines are planted per hectare.
After a conversion to organic viticulture, the domain has now chosen an orientation towards biodynamy. Béru hillside’s terroirs are among the stoniest terroirs of Chablis.

Vinification and Aging
The grapes are handpicked at maturity in 10kg crates. The harvest is directly pressed – in a pneumatic press at low pressure. The juice is directly transferred to stainless steel tanks for fermentations. The wines are aged during 14 to 16 months and are bottled without any fining or filtration. The close attention brought at each step of the winemaking process is the key element, which allows for low sulphur vinification.