Saint-Véran ‘Les Pommards’

HISTORY  Domaine Daniel et Julien Barraud is not only the source of Vergisson’s finest organic wines but also sets the standard for world-class white Burgundy from the Mâconnais.

The petit hamlet of Vergisson, with its limestone soils and high-altitude vineyards, is where the region’s finest wines are made. Here, families like the Barrauds have for generations preserved their craft in its most honest form, making wine by hand from well-tended organic vineyards and aging their wines in small, old-fashioned cellars. Theirs are wines that without fail can stand tall next to comparable bottles from the Côte d’Or, yet still offer extraordinary value.

In the Barraud family cellars, you’ll find collected a pile of seashells and other fossils that Daniel and his son, Julien, have found in their vineyards. (The enormous twin cliffs, the Roche de Vergisson and the Roche du Solutré, are basically ancient coral reefs.) Barraud wines still retain the pristine, mineral influence of this prehistoric ocean, expressed as a touch of sea salt on the finish.

VINEYARDS & WINEMAKING  Surrounded by the imposing cliffs of Solutré and Vergisson, the family estate is located in the limestone-rich valley of Vergisson. Soils here are a mix of limestone scree, fossilized limestone and colored clays, each terroir offering a particular character to each wine; the Barrauds take particular care to ensure each separate terroir is expressed clearly in each wine. The estate is certified organic.

Harvest is done by hand in multiple passes to ensure grapes are perfectly ripe. Fruit is delicately pressed in cluster via pneumatic press. Juice is placed in temperature-controlled tanks to settle overnight, and is then transferred via gravity to either barrel or tank where both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation takes place naturally. After at least a year, depending on the cuvée, the wines are racked and placed in tank before being bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Aromas of orange blossoms, lemon curd, wildflowers.  Supple and rich; flavors of lemon oil, poached white fruits.