Saint-Amour, Côte de Besset

In the vineyard, in the cellar

Arthur Lotrous decided to convert his Les Sources d’Agapé estate to organic farming straight away. He works the soil beneath the vines and maintains a grassed strip down the middle of each row. He trains the vines using the traditional goblet method, without trellising, tying them up one by one to preserve as much foliage as possible. His 6 hectares of Saint-Amour, in a single block, are separated from his neighbours by embankments and hedges. He harvests by hand into crates to protect the grapes.

In the cellar, he vinifies whole bunches using indigenous yeasts. Maceration is semi-carbonic, with vat temperatures maintained at around 20°C. He then devats into crates (without a harvest pump) to avoid damaging the grapes before they reach the press. The only inputs he uses are nitrogen (for inerting during semi-carbonic maceration), yeast nutrients (used sparingly) in just a few vats, and small quantities of SO2.

A few photos of the Les Sources d’Agapé estate

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In accordance with the Public Health Code, wines, sweet wines and beers have an alcohol content of between 3% and 18%