Domaine Blain-Gagnard Volnay 1er Cru Champans

Jean-Marc Blain and Claudine Gagnard created the estate in 1980 after the pair met whilst studying oenology at the University of Beaune. The Domaine's holdings mostly come from Claudine's grandparents and other relatives's vineyards, all scattered throughout the Cote de Beaune. They manage almost ten hectares of vineyards with their son, from village to Grand Cru status, including 'Le Montrachet', 'Criots-Batard-Montrachet', and 'Batard-Montrachet'. Last but not least, they own a firmament of precious rows of vines in the top Premiers Crus sites of Chassagne-Montrachet for both white and red ('Clos-St-Jean', 'Boudriotte', 'Morgeot', 'Cailleret') and Volnay ('Pitures' and 'Champans'). The style of their whites is rather classic: the fruits are hand-harvested, inoculated with yeasts, fermented and matured in an ascending importance of new oak considering the bottling and the lees stiring occurs regularly. The reds are also hand-harvested, but fermented with indigenous yeast, destemmed and aged in used oak barrels for 18 months. The Volnay 'Champans' is a quintessential example of the village's wines, sitting on the top of the hill where the soils mix hard limestone and well-drained red soils. Blain-Gagnard owns a mere 0.36 ha plot.