BIO-DYNAMIC
43 year-old Stephane Tissot returned to the family domaine 18 years ago and has since converted all 32 hectares to bio-dynamic viticulture and dramatically reduced yields. Vinifying terroir by terroir, he makes Chardonnay and Pinot Noir of Burgundian quality with a distinctive mineral expression. He also honors the family traditions with brilliant versions of the semi-oxidized wines of the region. One of the world’s most restlessly innovative producers, he never ceases to come up with daring new ideas relating to viticulture, wine-making and hitherto unthought-of products.
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Available Wines
In typical Tissot fashion, Stéphane can’t resist experimenting, so he now has three vineyard sites, bottled separately, for Vin Jaune, all made in the classical fashion, all expressing their different terroir despite the overriding presence of the flor. One is supremely mineral, one closed and brooding, and this is perhaps the most “typical,” if anything Stéphane does can be so named.
Think of this as “baby” Vin Jaune. It has all the flor-induced characteristics beloved of the true believers in a slightly less intense, one might argue more useful form.
Think of this as “baby” Vin Jaune. It has all the flor-induced characteristics beloved of the true believers in a slightly less intense, one might argue more useful form.
This gravelly parcel often yields Stéphane’s most forward Arbois Chardonnay. It is not an exaggeration to describe this as high burgundian class.
This is the cuvée formerly known as “Classic” and, briefy, “Empreinte”. Made from younger (less than 25 years old!) vines in Tissot’s famed single crus, and made in a rigorously classical burgundian style, the only pity is that the combination of successive minute vineyards and Tissot’s inreasing global renown have resulted in the reduction of our allocation to ten (yes, 10) cases. Don’t blink.
This gravelly parcel often yields Stéphane’s most forward Arbois Chardonnay. The 2013 positively seethes with animation, so vibrantly does the fruit express itself. It is not an exaggeration to describe this as high burgundian class.
This is the cuvée formerly known as “Classic” and, briefy, “Empreinte”. Made from younger (less than 25 years old!) vines in Tissot’s famed single crus, and made in a rigorously classical burgundian style, the only pity is that the combination of successive minute vineyards and Tissot’s inreasing global renown have resulted in the reduction of our allocation to ten (yes, 10) cases. Don’t blink.
Think of this as “baby” Vin Jaune. It has all the flor-induced characteristics beloved of the true believers in a slightly less intense, one might argue more useful form. This version is a miniscule production made in amphora.
Trousseau is truly one of the most original grapes in the world and Tissot makes something simultaneously delicate and strong from it. This is a wine for those who value tension and balance above colour and weight.
100% Chardonnay, 75% from 2007 in the barrel for a year, and the remainder from 2008 in stainless. Again, no dosage, and great fidelity to the Champagne model of toast, yeast, and fine beaded complexity. After four years on the lees, it is still young and, alas, in short supply.
(55% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir, 5% Poulsard, 5% Trousseau) Since the 2009 vintage, Stéphane has succeeded in finding the balance in his grapes that enables him to make this wine without dosage, his Platonic ideal of how Crémant should be. What a triumph! Beyond the wine’s familiarly uncanny resemblance to champagne, it has a depth and persistence of flavor that pay tribute to the bio-dynamic regime of the domaine. The wine has never been better, and the news is out, because we have now had our allocation of this and other Tissot wines severely reduced.
A determinedly “pink” wine, in the sense that it is made predominantly from black grapes, lending it a weight and earthy flavor profile quite different from that of the more “champenois” white versions. We have a comparatively generous 25-case allocation!
