Pierre Dumazet Cornas ‘Cuvée Charlemagne’ 2013

Domaine et Caves Dumazet

Pierre Dumazet has been running his tiny, uber-traditional family-operation in Limony since 1978, about a century after it was founded by his forebears. The domain encompasses about 4.5ha of steep terraced vineyard plots scattered across Cornas, Cote Rotie, St Joseph and Condrieu. Total yields from these holdings are so small that Pierre also vinifies grapes sourced from outside his own domain, and at times even worked in metallurgy on the side.

Dumazet is convinced that true typicity in wine can only be reached when farming and vinifications are done without artificial aides and additives. That means the vineyards are worked (exclusively by hand) without synthetic sprays and fertilizers, so as to encourage the vine roots to penetrate deep into their rocky but healthy soils. Vinifications are very traditional, with largely unsulphured indigenous yeast fermentations and long élevages in old oak. Syrah vinifications are either partially destemmed or completely whole bunch, without any pre-fermentation macerations. Whites are made from late-picked Viognier, fermented in mostly old oak casks (some new on the Condrieus) and aged on old oak with regular lees stirring.

Production quantities range from 1000 to 4000 bottles per cuvée, most of which goes straight to a small circle of exclusive French clientele. With the help of Fabien Duperray (Domaine Jules Desjourneys) we are able to secure a small allocation for Amsterdam each year.