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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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.
Stéphane’s best Pinot vines are outside the Arbois appellation. Those familiar with the “En Barberon” from previous vintages will be reassured by the distinctively resonant and firm expression of the grape in this new wine, while appreciating the relative suppleness and approachability offered by the vineyard.
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.
Too sweet (300 grams residual sugar!) to be a table wine, and too low in alcohol (8%) to be a dessert wine, this extraordinarily rich and pungent nectar comes from grapes laid out to dry for five months and then pressed. The closest analogy is something between Vin Santo and TBA. This needs to be tasted to be believed. (60% Savagnin/20% Poulsard, 20% Chardonnay)
This gravelly parcel often yields Stéphane’s most forward Arbois Chardonnay. The 2016 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 increasing global renown have resulted in the reduction of our allocation to Thirteen (yes, 13) cases. Don’t blink.
Stéphane’s red wine yields have been pitifully cut by Nature in 2013 and 2014, so he contrived this new blend of Trousseau, Poulsard and Pinot Noir. Relatively pale, it surprises with an effusively berried nose. The palate, however, shows a more serious, earthy aspect, with a long, salty tail. This is “natural” red the way it should be made.
Stéphane’s best Pinot vines are outside the Arbois appellation. Those familiar with the “En Barberon” from previous vintages will be reassured by the distinctively resonant and firm expression of the grape in this new wine, while appreciating the relative suppleness and approachability offered by the vineyard.
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.
Who but Stéphane would have contrived the notion of conducting a secondary fermentation with his yeast-and-sugar-rich Vin de Paille? The result is fascinatingly different – fruitier, deeper, more mysterious – and has quickly developed a cult-like following. This is the model that he intends to follow in the future.
(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.
(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. Our allocation has been further reduced to 20 cases because of successive small, weather-impacted harvests.
