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Dom. des Grabottes

Former chef Jonathan Garnier decided in 2015 to return to the region of his childhood and establish a small domaine, which today extends to all of four hectares. Lyon, of course, is known as France’s gastronomic capital, but the wine appellation around it is hardly known outside the area. Being close to Beaujolais, it is no surprise that the dominant grapes are Gamay, Aligoté and Chardonnay. But Jonathan’s vines are actually closer to Vienne than to Mâcon. Consequently, the expression of Gamay is really quite singular, and offers a fascinating counterpoint to the more familiar profiles of the famed Beaujolais crus.
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Producer:
Dom. des Grabottes
Country:
France
Region:
Burgundy
Subregion:
Coteaux du Lyonnais
City of Origin:
Millery until 2022 and now Chaponost
Date Founded:
2015
Owner Name:
Garnier Jonathan
Vineyard Size:
5 HA
Total Annual Production:
10,000-12,000 bottles

Property History:

The Domaine des Grabottes was created in 2015 by Jonathan Garnier, a young independent winemaker [graduated from Macon Davayé in 2015, Burgundy]. From a surface area of 1.2 Ha at start, it has since expanded to 5 Ha. Since the creation of the estate, the vines have been worked according to the principles of organic farming, without the use of synthetic chemical, with weeding carried out solely by working the soil. The vineyard is therefore currently transitioning to organic labelling and only a few parcels are not integrated in this process yet. Interested by biodynamic agriculture, Jonathan Garnier began testing this method in 2016 before generalizing the practices across the whole vineyard in 2017. He follows the principles of biodynamism and could enter a certification process in the mid- to long-term, but does not plan to do so at this stage, as the vineyard is still recent. The vines are divided over 3 sites in the South-West of Lyon, with two terroirs which are very characteristic. In the municipality of Taluyers, located on the foothills of the Monts du Lyonnais, themselves on the eastern edge of the Massif Central, you find granite and gneiss soils, particularly draining, which brings fruit, finesse and balance to the wines. The other plots, distributed over two other municipalities, are located mostly on ice moraines, with deeper, clay-loam soils, containing a large quantity of rolled pebbles, which gives more density and structure to the wines. As he works alone on the estate, Jonathan preferred to keep a reasonable surface of vines so that he could manage them accurately and avoid excessive mechanization. He tries to make as few tractor passages as possible in order to limit soil settlement and respect biodiversity. The health of the vineyards comes first, in order to obtain grapes of the best quality. This allows in turn to harvest them manually, to respect the integrity of the bunch of grapes and then vinify them in whole bunches, a signature technique of the estate. As far as grape varieties are concerned, the black Gamay with white juice is the only one used for the production of red wines. Most of the vines of this variety were planted in the 50s and 70s, guaranteeing a mature and high-quality plot. The white wines are produced in very small quantities, with grape varieties Chardonnay and Aligoté from younger vines, planted in the 80s. Jonathan plans to develop Chardonnay's plantations with mass selection, in order to develop the white plot of the estate.

Owner History:

John began his professional career as a chef in 2005. Passionate about wines and winemaking from the very start, he decided to make a career change to work as a wine merchant in 2011. In 2014, he felt the need to get closer to the vineyard and went back to study an advanced technician’s certificate in winemaking in Mâcon-Davayé (Burgundy). Since 2015, he has started his own wine estate, located in the Lyon wine region.

Wines By Dom. des Grabottes
Dom. des Grabottes

2019 "Les Grabottines"

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