Domaine Des 13 Lunes, Abymes, 2023

Orchard Fruit, Saline, Mineral

Savoie / White / Jacquere / Biodynamic 

Vinified in the same way as the Apremont so harvest is done by hand and grapes are gently fed into the press using a conveyor belt. Following settling the juice is transferred into stainless steel tanks for wild yeast fermentation and ageing on fine lees. A pinch of sulphur is added both at pressing and bottling, bringing total sulphur below 30mg/l. If you like lean, mineral, bright and zippy wines then you will love this.

Notes on the producer

Domaine des 13 Lunes was created in January 2017 when Sylvain and his partner Anne Cadic took over the existing estate. Four months and three terrible bouts of spring frost later, they were looking at potential crop loss of 75%. Rescue came in the form of a 10,000 euros grant by the organic certifying body Alpes Contrôles, which was just enough to tide them over until the next harvest. Anne and Sylvain's vineyards are split between Abymes and Apremont, two Crus whose reputations have suffered following decades of poor winemaking. It’s not uncommon for local growers to rush the wines onto the market in time for the ski season – just three months after harvest! Needless to say these commercial wines have little to offer, but in the right hands Apremont and Abymes can both produce captivating, thirst quenching wines. Sylvain was inspired by the biodynamic growers he met during his training and decided to follow in their footsteps when he took over the domaine. As well as finding both the vignerons and their wines more engaging, he was attracted by Rudolph Steiner’s philosophy for its pragmatic as opposed to dogmatic approach.