Alice et Olivier De Moor "Le Vendangeur Masqué" Chablis, Burgundy, France 2022

FROM LOUIS DRESSNER:

THE WINE: The Vendangeur Masqué Chablis comes from 2 clay-limestone parcels totaling 1.1 hectares of Chardonnay (inlcuding a bit of the very aromatic Musqué sub-variety). One is a rented parcel and was planted in 1980, faces west and is in conversion to organics; the other, previously rented but now owned by the de Moors, was planted in 2005, faces south and is fully organic. The fruit is harvested by hand, destemmed, gently pressed and fermented spontaneously with indigenous yeasts in tank. The wine goes through malo and is aged on its lees without bâtonnage or racking in a mix of enameled-lined steel tanks and used barrels for close to a year. Bottling is without fining or filtering and is the only point at which a touch of sulfur is added to the wine.

THE PRODUCER: Alice and Olivier De Moor live and work in Courgis, a small village 7km southwest of Chablis. It is where Olivier grew up, and his “old” cellar, the part where he ages his Chablis in oak barrels, is underneath his grandparents' house. From the hill where Courgis sits, the view is of vineyards over hills all the way to the Chablis. Alice is from the Jura, and the two met at a large where Olivier was in charge of the vineyards. Both are Chablis estate enologists, graduates of the school, with enough knowledge to take a radically different direction for their vines and wines than their neighbors.

The De Moors have worked their vines organically since 2005, a rarity in their area. In 2002, they stopped using large harvest bins and replaced them with small boxes where the grapes are not crushed by their own weight. In 2007, they built a large and high-ceilinged winery, allowing them to do all their cellarwork by gravity. In 2008, they purchased a second-hand pneumatic pressto treat the grapes in the gentlest way possible. There is no SO2 use at harvest or during the winemaking.