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Domaine de la Bongran
Domaine de la Bongran is no ordinary Mâconnais estate. Since Jean Thévenet took over the domaine in 1972, this Viré-Clessé producer has become a cult name – with Jean a pioneer of organics and minimal intervention, as well as the estate’s unique wine style.
Gautier took over the viticulture and winemaking in 2000, although his father Jean is still involved. The estate consists of 15 hectares, all of which are organically farmed. The vines are up to 80 years old, at 250 to 300 metres’ altitude in Quintaine, in Viré-Clessé.
The white marl soils are key to the wine style produced, retaining freshness in the wines. The microclimate here is also unusual, enabling them to – in certain vintages – produce their stunning botrytised sweet wine, Cuvée Botrytis.
The decision of when to pick is made on taste rather than numbers, with the grapes harvested only when they are ultra-ripe – full of flavour and complexity. In vintages where the conditions are right for botrytis, they leave fruit on the vine to develop botrytis for their Cuvée Levroutée and Cuvée Botrytis. Everything is picked by hand and yields are low, 35-45hl/ha – around three times lower than the appellation’s limits.
As Jean Thévenet says, “Terroir is to wine what a composer is to music.; the winemaker being only the conductor.” In this spirit, there is very little intervention in the winery.
They use a Coquard press to gently extract the juice and keep the fruit’s delicate aromatics. The must then ferments incredibly slowly with indigenous yeasts, taking up to two years. The wine stays on its fine lees, giving the wines a viscous texture, while the white marl soil lends them minerality and acidity. Despite the wines richness, there’s no oak at all here, with only stainless steel tanks in the winery.
