DOMAINE DE LA CHAPPE

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The Ferme de la Chappe sits on the top of a hill just west of the city of Tonnerre, you reach it after going up a side road winding through woods along a small valley with a few parcels of vines. The wine region of Tonnerre is located near Auxerre in northern Burgundy, it is certainly lesser known than its prestigious neighbor Chablis (16 km by road) or the Beaune area.

The Ferme de la Chappe is a multi-crop farm, Vincent's father was growing also wheat when he lobbied a few other farmers in the Tonnerre area to replant vines some 30 years ago. Today, he and his wife keep running the wheat farm but his son Vincent took gradually over the 2,5 hectares of vineyards in 2003. He turned the vineyards to organic farming although his father was already working on a pretty traditional way, and he extended his vinification capacity by purchasing organic grapes in the area.

Vincent makes wine from a total of 6 hectares of vineyards, among which the 2,5 hectares of his family farm to which he adds an additional 3,5 hectares of puechased grapes. His own vineyards are planted with Aligoté and Chardonnay and he buys different things to other (organic when possible) growers like Chablis, Petit Chablis and Beaujolais grapes, it all depends of the years and of what he finds

Speaking of his purchased grapes, Vincent says that finding organic grapes is not easy in the immediate area, he used to work with a young grower on Chablis & Petit Chablis, Adrien Roux who was working fine but he stopped his activity since.

The white AOC Appellation in Tonnerre was created in 2006 and it is named Bourgogne Tonnerre, otherwise the Aligoté here falls in the Bourgogne Aligoté AOC. For the reds you have the Bourgogne Rouge for the Tonnerrois, and the higher-value Bourgogne Epineuil for vineyards located on the Epineuil area. Tonnerre and Epineuil aren't very well-known appellations even in France although the AOC is now 10 years old and in spite of the long history and management by the monks since the 10th century, plus there are few producers and many sell their wine to the négoce, so there is room for progress.

There are only two producers making natural wine in the Tonnerrois, Les Larmes de Divona by Amaury Beaufort (from the Champagne Beaufort family) and the Domaine de la Chappe.

For a relatively-small surface (almost 6 hectares when you include the purchased fruit) Vincent makes a large number of cuvées, 12 of them, not all been displayed on this picture because some of the wines aren't ready and aren't bottled yet. That's prettty impressing, many are sulfites free, like the Joseph 2014, a Burgundy Pinot Noir, Vincent says about the many cuvées that he likes to experience diverse appellations and terroirs, for example there's a Bourgogne Tonnerre cuvée (a white) named Ghislaine which is still in its vat which he likes a lot, it's a very different type of wine compared to the cuvée Thérèse, also a Bourgogne Tonnerre white. All the wines bear a first name with a funny portrait-like label, they're invented names except for André which is a reference to his father and Joseph, his grand-grandfather.