Domaine de l’Enclos
The Domaine de l'Enclos is 29 hectares of vines in organic farming (Ecocert certification) on the 4 levels of the Chablis appellation and in particular on some of the most beautiful terroirs of the vineyard. The estate is located in the heart of Chablis in a large property, former home of the working monks of Pontigny Abbey, including a large 19th century building and a partly underground cellar built in 2016. It is today managed by two brothers, Romain and Damien Bouchard.
Most of the work is done in the vines: respectful Poussard pruning, organic fertilizer, disbudding, careful trellising, leaf stripping, manual harvesting.
Romain and Damien attach great importance to the life of the soil, maintained by scratching and sowing. To preventively protect the vines from diseases, they only use products of natural origin, copper, sulfur and plant preparations.
2016 is the first vintage vinified at Domaine de l'Enclos, in their new gravity cellar. The grapes are harvested at full maturity (no chaptalization), sorted on a vibrating table, pressed pneumatically and the juices flow by gravity into stainless steel vats installed in an underground cellar of 450 m2 where temperatures are controlled.
Vinification is done without input, no sulfur, with native yeasts and the aging of the wines in vats and barrels can last up to 18 months on the lees. The wines are neither fined nor treated by cold. Only light filtration and a moderate addition of sulfur (SO2) are carried out before bottling.
Note in particular the Chablis vintage “À l'Ouest” which comes from the westernmost plot of the vineyard, in the town of Beine. This high hillside overlooking the Premier Cru Vau Ligneau is a predominantly limestone terroir facing south. It is a vintage vinified and aged without any input, and without sulphite added to the bottling. A generous and invigorating Chablis.
