ABOUT THE PRODUCER: Domaine Jean Touzot
The three-generation Touzot family domaine is located in the northernmost part of the Mâcon region, just south of the Côte Chalonnaise. Their 11 hectares of vineyards overlooking the commune of Martaily les Brancion, near Tournus, are planted with 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir and Gamay (for Bourgogne Rouge, Mâcon Rouge and Crémant). The Chardonnay vines are planted on several perfectly exposed slopes with ideal clay-limestone soils at an average altitude of 200 meters. In 2005, the Touzots added the 3 hectare Les Parettes Chardonnay vineyard which they prepared and planted themselves. It has an ideal, due-south exposure and a thin layer of stony, heat-retaining soil over a bed of pure limestone. The Chardonnay vines now average 30 years of age, making for a more concentrated and complex Mâcon Villages.
Jean’s son Frédéric took over management of the family domaine in 2002, after graduating from the Lycée Viticole in Mâcon and completing a stage in South Africa. He dedicated himself to moving the domaine’s viticultural practice to sustainability. He ended systematic vineyard treatments, and now only carries out treatments when absolutely necessary. He discontinued the use of herbicides and now regularly plows the soil to ensure its healthy state and encourage the vines’ roots to go deep into the limestone subsoil. Frédéric Touzot believes careful pruning in the winter, leaf stripping, and bunch thinning in abundant years which makes for a naturally healthy ambiance and enhances the quality of his wine. He uses organic fertilizers only when deemed necessary by tests of the soils. Touzot observes that his grapes are now both healthier and riper at harvest time. Environmentally friendly practices are also used inside the winery, such as the recycling and purification of rinse water before it is drained away. “I try to be more observant and attentive to the needs of vineyard,” explains Frédéric, “rather than habitually using the same practices every year. By respecting nature, I better understand my profession.”
The Chardonnay vines are planted on several perfectly exposed slopes with ideal clay-limestone soils at an average altitude of 200 meters. In 2005, the Touzots added the 3 hectare Les Parettes Chardonnay vineyard which they prepared and planted themselves.
