Domaine LAROQUE D'ANTAN - Néphèle - Claude et Lydia Bourguignon 2017
Domaine Laroque d’Antan is located in Laroque des Arcs, in the Cahors region. It belongs to Claude and Lydia Bourguignon. Claude Bourguignon is a French agricultural engineer, former Research Assistant at INRA and Lydia Bourguignon was a master in Sciences. Together, they founded the Laboratory of Microbiological Analysis of Soils(LAMS), an agronomic consulting company, which sells its services, mainly to wine growers. After more than 30 years traveling the world, they decide to plant their own vineyard. They choose a hillside that has been abandoned for 140 years, with intact biodiversity, and cleared it while conserving hedges and trees. In the midst of the brambles, they found ancient walls that demarcated the plots of three small winegrowers' houses, a caselle, a mule shelter and a well always filled with water. After the soil analyses, they demarcated the zones for the white grape varieties and those for the red grape varieties, endeavoring to restore the forgotten grape varieties of this region of the South-West. All attention is paid to the vines, the harvest is done by hand in crates transported by Effraie, their donkey. Emmanuel (their son) vinifies and matures these grapes without artifice, with indigenous yeasts, to keep in the wine the spirit of the place where the vine grew. Certification in biodynamic agriculture is planned for 2020.
Néphèle 2017 is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc (mass selection from Domaine François Cotat), Sauvignon Gris (mass selection from Domaine Elian Da Ros), Mauzac Rose, Mauzac Vert and Verdanelle (mass selection from Domaine Robert Plageoles).
Alcoholic fermentation is carried out in barrels and in stainless steel vats, with indigenous yeasts. There is no malolactic fermentation. Aging lasts 10 months on lees, 70% of which in 2-to-4-year-old oak barrels and 30% in stainless steel vats.
Grape varieties: Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, Mauzac Rose, Mauzac Vert, Verdanelle