Domaine Rene Lequin-Colin

Born into a family with generations of father and son winemakers dating back to 1679, René Lequin married Josette Colin who is also from a family of winemaking heritage in Chassagne-Montrachet. Together they created the Domain Rene Lequin-Colin. Their goal is to have a small, family-run estate and since their son François has joined as winemaker the perenniality is safe. They grow 9 hectares (around 22,5 acres) in Santenay, Chassagne-Montrachet, Pommard and Nuits Saint Georges. They also proudly produce some Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru, Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru and red Corton Grand Cru.

The wines of Lequin-Colin are made exclusively with the two noble grape varieties of Burgundy, Chardonnay for the whites and Pinot Noir for the reds. Their vines are pruned in " guyot simple " for the Chardonnay and " Cordon de Royat " for the Pinot Noir. These pruning methods give them the ability to keep yields low and to get the best expression of the grape varities. With respect to the environment, every year they work on the soils (ploughing) to allow the wines to get the necessary ressources and to confirm the personality of each terroir.

All the grapes are harvested by hand. Our philosophy for winemaking is to utilize contemporary methods while retaining respect for tradition. And are fortunate to be able to give their customers the benefit of savoir-faire or know-how and the experience that our ancestors have passed down.

The grapes are hand picked and brought to the winery. There they are presses in a pneumatic press with low pressures to avoid the extractions of hard or green tannins. The juice is then put straight into oak barrels. We use between 25-30% new oak to maintain varietal character.

The barrels are stacked in the cellar where they keep the temperatures low to ensure a slow fermentation and to get more flavor,finesse and elegance. Every week during maturation, prior to malolactic fermentation, they do a stirring (batonnage). This process feeds the wine and gives it more body and fatness. The wines remain on their lees until Spring. They then do a first racking and keep some lees to continue the maturation of the wines. At the end of July they do a second racking to prepare for the bottling that usually occurs at the end of August.

They like to keep the bottles at least 6 months in our cellar before releasing them, as they want the wine to be in the best condition before it goes out to the customer.
After the grapes are hand picked they bring whole clusters in small baskets to the winery. They use a very gentle destemming technique to keep the crop as healthy as possible. After a cold maceration to extract fruitness and fatness, the grapes go through a traditional fermentation.

The grapes ferment in open top vats for 10-12 days. They punch down and pump over every day to extract the maximum color, tannins and aromas. Like for the whites, they control the temperatures so as not to burn the aromas and to avoid the hard tannins. After the pressing, the wines are matured in oak barrels for 14-18 months. Once maturation and racking are completed the wines are bottled and stored in the cellar before release.

By using meticulous methods in the vineyards and winery they produce perfumed and full bodied wines that you can drink young with fresh fruit flavors or age in your cellar for more powerful matured flavors.