Pouilly-Fuissé En Chatenay Cuvée Zen Domaine de la Soufrandière Bret Bros 2020

Description

Grandfather Bret bought this property in Vinzelles in 1947. In 2000 Jean-Philippe and Jean-Guillaume Bret took their vineyards out of the local co-operative and established their Domaine de la Soufrandière, 4 hectares of vines entirely in the appellation of Pouilly Vinzelles. They have also developed a negociant activity using the name Bret Brothers.

Previous experience between them includes stages at Ridge and Newton in California and Comte Lafon in Burgundy. Most of their vines are in a perfectly situated east facing slope of Vinzelles called Les Quarts, on Bajocian limestone with a high silica/quartz content.

The vineyards have been farmed organically since 2000, with biodynamic principles being progressively introduced. The grapes, both their own and those purchased, are picked in small containers, then whole bunch pressed in the tinailler (local Maconnais and Beaujolais word for cuverie) before descending by gravity to the barrel cellar. They are currently all taken out of barrel for bottling after 11 months.

Since 2016, Bret Brothers have produced several cuvées that are vinified without sulfur, which they call “Zen”. For these wines, they add only 10 to 20 mg/l of sulfur before bottling, as opposed to the classic wines that have between 20 and 50 mg/l (which is already very low. Demeter allows for 90 mg/l of total SO2 for dry white wines, organic certification allows for 150 mg/l, and non-certified wines may have up to 210 mg/l). The “Zen” cuvées are, thus, more open, vibrant, almost magical. All of our red wines are vinified as “Zen” since 2019. These wines should, thus, be stored at 15°C maximum. All of our Zen cuvées (red, white and Pet Nat), as well as all of the wines that they age in the cellar for 17 months are neither fined nor filtered, as it has been the case since the 2010 vintage. The others go through a light earth filtration

Very low sulphur. Certified organic & biodynamic, this is one of our favourite new discoveries..