Domaine de la Cadette,
Burgundy & Beaujolais, France
Domaine de la Cadette has been making wine in their small village of Saint-Père in Northern Burgundy since the 1980s. They began farming organically in 1999, a brave move in an area where most wine is sold in bulk. Like most parts of Burgundy, wine has been made here for centuries, but here estate bottling is still relatively recent. In fact when Jean and Catherine Montanet planted their first vineyards in 1987, their intention was to sell everything to the co-op.
They made the change to organic farming for the health of their vineyard workers but noticed an increase in fruit quality preferred the wines. They tried to convince the other members of their co-op to convert to organics but were unsuccessful and the co-op continued farming with chemicals. The Montanets then left the co-op to make wine of their own. Through their experience farming organically and caring for the vines they found they were able to do less and less in the cellar and like many vignerons in France it was a bottle of Marcel Lappiere’s Morgon that convinced them to work with less sulphur.
They lie just southeast of Vézelay, a stones throw from Chablis but the vines rest on different soils here. Instead of the famous Kimmerdigian soils of Chablis, the clays here are blue, gray and red. Sometimes the soils are entirely limestone, without clay at all. The climate is even cooler than in Chablis but there is plenty of sun, producing wines with generous fruit and fantastic minerality.
Their son Valentin joined them in 2010 after working with Jean Foillard, Chateau Cambon and many other great domains. He now manages the winery, espousing his parents' philosophy of organic farming and natural vinification.
The wines are bottled under 3 different labels. Domaine de la Cadette is owned by Jean and Catherine Montanet and the wines are made by Jean Montanet with the help of son Valentin. La Soeur Cadette is the negociant where they use some of their own organic grapes and buy some more organic grapes from friends throughout Burgundy and Beaujolais. Domaine Montanet-Thoden is owned by Catherine Montanet and Tom Thoden and the wines are now made by Valentin. All of domaines share the same view, practicing organic viticulture, eschewing pesticides and herbicides in the vineyard and working without additives in the cellar. Fruit is handpicked, wines undergo natural fermentation and only a small sulphur addition is made if at all. Most of the wines are unfiltered.
Mâcon Chardonnay:
Fermentation in stainless steel tank, aged for 7 to 10 months in stainless steel before bottling. Named for the village of Chardonay where the grapes come from. This wine has a small bit of Chardonnay Muscadel blended into it, a local variety of Chardonnay.
Mâcon Villages:
Fermentation in stainless steel tank. Aged for 6 to 10 months in stainless steel before bottling.
Juliènas:
Carbonic maceration and fermentation in stainless steel tanks then racked into barrel where it is aged for 9 to 10 months
Chènas:
Carbonic maceration and fermentation in stainless steel tanks then racked into barrel where it is aged for 9 to 10 months
Retail
Ellement Wine & Spirits
Jones & Co. Wine Merchants
Kenaston Wine Market
Winehouse
