Rémi Sédès
FRANCE, LOIRE, ANCENIS
We are so pleased to have a handful of new arrivals from Rémi Sédès in Ancenis, Loire. Slow-macerated, foudre-aged Gamay, dazzling, mineral white, and one of our all-time favourite roses make a welcome return.
A Gamay specialist, Rémi farms 2.5 hectares of 25-year-old isolated vines that he leases from local biodynamic grandfather Jacques Caroge.
Hailing from the Jura, he studied agronomy when he arrived in the area to live closer to his wife's family in Nantes. He earned his white stripes with Vincent Caillé, followed by a brief stint in Bordeaux to grapple with reds, before setting up to take things at his own pace in 2013.
Remi wanted to focus his efforts on Gamay, and the best soils were a key factor in his choosing to work vines in Ancenis, north-east of Nantes. The soil is micro granite - which suits Gamay particularly well - with a mix of clay, sand and limon underneath. Gamay is vigorous, and the acidity in these soils help to reduce yields, and offers particularly aromatic expressions when worked delicately.
Like the Shire horses he uses in the vineyards, Remi prefers to take things slowly. For him, his work as a winemaker is as much a lifestyle choice as a profession. He relishes his time outside and avoids working with machines. As he puts it; he might as well get a job in a factory listening to machinery if he were to sit driving a tractor around the vineyard all day.
The new wines are detailed in full below!
AVAILABLE NOW
WHITE
2020 - Michto - Melon B.
Melon planted over micro-granite, hand-harvested, pressed slowly and gently in a cold room, settled in tank for 3 days in the cold room, racked to fibreglass for fermentation and ageing, bottled unfined and unfiltered with no additions in spring.
ROSE
2023 - Samplemousse - Gamay
Hand harvested, pressed slowly and gently in a cold room, settled in tank for 3 days in the cold room to retain primary fermentation aromatics, racked to a single Alsatian foudre for 6 months, bottled with no additions.
RED
2019 - Trait Gamay - Gamay
Hand harvested. De-stemmed and lightly crushed. A two week maceration, basket pressed to fibreglass, racked back to fibreglass just before the end of fermentation.
2021 - Trait Gamay - Gamay
2021 marks Remi's new process for Trait: everything is destemmed, for a one month infusion style maceration in an Alsatian foudre, with no extraction. Free-run juice and press juice are assembled together before bottling straight away, ageing in bottle. No additions.
