Domaine Partagé ‘Cri Cri’ Chignin Blanc 2021

Location: France, Savoie, Chignin

Winemaker: Gilles & Christine Berlioz

Grapes: Jacquére

Soil: Clay, limestone

Winemaking: Grapes are harvested by hand. After a long pressing, fermentation begins in fiberglass tanks using native yeasts only. Wine ages in fiberglass tanks and eggs sur lie for six months before being bottled unfined and unfiltered according to the lunar cycle. Minimal SO2.

From the Importer Jeffrey Alpert Selections: In 2016, Gilles Beriloz and his partner Christine decided to rename the domaine they have been running since 1990 to Domaine Partagé—which translates to “The Shared Domaine.” Changing the domaine’s name was important to Gilles and Christine, as it emphasized a gratitude for any and all that have entered and affected their lives. Friends, family, fellow vignerons, harvest help, and everyone in between have helped Gilles and Christine along the way and this is one of the many ways they try to give back. The domaine continues to share their equipment with local like-minded vignerons, as well as offer affordable grapes to any new winemakers.

Gilles’s entry to winemaking began as a child, when he would travel to Chignin from Chambéry to help his father farm his 0.8ha of vines. As an adult, Gilles worked as a builder and landscapist for a number of years while slowly adding to his leased-holdings until he reached 7 hectares. Gilles was very unhappy with the wines that he was producing early on—using conventional farming methods, chemical treatments, a tractor—and he set out in the late 1990s to reduce his yield greatly, and adopt organic and biodynamic practices. He reduced his yield to 5 hectares, began working the vines entirely by hand (and with the help of his horse), eschewed the use of herbicides and pesticides in the vineyard. Gilles work in the cellar has also evolved: by, 2006 Gilles had stopped using old oak to age his wines, electing for fiberglass tanks and eggs instead. All grapes are picked by hand, only native yeasts are used in the cellar, and the wines are never chaptalized. Sulfur levels are kept to a minimum. Organically certified since 2002. First year of Demeter conversion began in 2018.