Marcel Couturier - Saint Véran La Cour des Bois 2020 (750ml)

Couturier’s Saint-Véran La Cour des Bois is an electric, stunning wine made with fruit from 70 to 80-year-old vines at the very southern end of the appellation near the village of Chânes in Saint-Véran. This site is unusual for the southern Mâconnais, being the remnants of a ridge of an ancient riverbed. La Cour des Bois is a small plateau with ancient alluvial soil and rolled gallets. These soils are acidic sandy loam with a very acidic clay base. This particular terroir gives the wine an open, airy, and fresh character reminiscent of great Chablis. This pure elegance, and one of the freshest, easy drinking White Burgundies I've tasted at this price point. Absolutely stunning. 

Domaine Couturier is led by the legendary Marcel Couturier, who comes from a long line of vignerons in the southern Mâconnais, in conjunction with the next generation of the domaine: his daughter Cladie and son Auxence. The winery is located in the commune of Fuissé, overlooking the village of Loché, Mâcon, and the great plain of Bresse. Their vineyards are located within a fault zone, meaning several different soil types exist close to one another within a small area.

Farming is meticulous at Domaine Couturier, employing only certified organic (Ecocert 2021) and certified biodynamic (Demeter 2022) methods. They work soils with ground cover between rows to regenerate the hard, poor clay soils, which greatly benefit from the aeration and the introduction of native organic materials.

In the cellar, the approach is equally hands-off. Traditionally, Marcel is known for being a non-interventionist, utilizing spontaneous, native yeast fermentation, which takes place deep in their cold cellar in Loché. At harvest, whole bunches are hand-picked, and once the bunches are pressed, they allow the must to settle for up to two days (static settling). Sulfur is not added to the bunches when they arrive in the winery, and the resulting wild-yeast fermentations are long and cool, as they never rush the fermentation by warming the cellar. Both alcoholic and malolactic fermentations occur naturally in traditional French Burgundy barrels. Some of the gross lees are retained during fermentation, resulting in a small amount of skin contact during both fermentation and élevage. Once the must is in the barrel, it is basically left alone from that point until they are bottled.