The art of making wine that reveals the grape

“Our aim is for the grapes to be perfectly ripe and healthy so that we can make really natural wine.” »

Martine and Pierre-Marie Chermette have always been inclined towards making wine that is as natural as possible and have a single goal: that their work and produce be of the highest quality.

Both in tending the vines and in vinification, Pierre-Marie Chermette intervenes as little as possible. This respect means that the terroir is able to express itself authentically in each of his wines.

Eco-friendly vinegrowing

Pierre-Marie is convinced that integrated agriculture, to give it its official name, is the style best suited to the evolution in the climate in our region today – victim of excesses – and the fragility of the Gamay grape variety.

• Tilling or shallow ploughing between the vines on all the plots where it is possible or grassing.
• Yield control through hard pruning (goblet and cordon de Royat) and growth management: budding, bunch thinning if necessary.
• Manual harvest when the bunches of grapes reach peak ripeness.
• Successive sorting of the harvest, first in the vines, then on vatting, systematic use of a sorting table.

Vinification that is as natural as possible

• No use of chemically produced yeasts, to retain the natural yeasts and the specificity of each terroir.
• Little or no chaptalisation..
• A minimum use of sulphur dioxide from vinification to bottling.

Pierre-Marie Chermette makes wine using semi-carbonic vinification:

“This is the traditional Beaujolais vinification method. I use it because it is perfectly adapted to the Gamay grape and our terroir.” »

Find out more

Semi-carbonic vinification

The whole bunches of grapes – they are not de-stalked – are vatted; the vat is then saturated with CO2 and closed. After 2 to 3 days maceration, Pierre-Marie pumps the run-off juice from the bottom of the vat over the cap of grapes at the top; in the morning and in the evening: This gives the wine added colour and structure.
Maceration lasts for 4 to 6 days for Beaujolais Nouveau, 6 to 8 days for spring Beaujolais and 10 to 12 days for the Crus. The grapes are then pressed in the pneumatic press.