Jean Noel Gagnard handed his eponymous Domaine to his daughter Caroline Lestimé in 1989. She had studied business in Paris, before returning to the village to take over the reins of the family estate, and had to handle male chauvinism at its most rampant. Nonetheless, she has followed her own convictions, and enhanced (rather than diminished) the reputation of this fine producer. In the vineyard, she uses no fertilisers or herbicides, but has not taken hold of the biodynamic bible.- James Halliday.
Gagnard’s daughter Caroline Lestimé’s 0.34ha plot, formerly Pinot Noir, was replanted in 1990 to Chardonnay. The vineyard faces south-east at 250m altitude, half-way up a moderately-steep slope of stony clay over limestone blocks. Viticulture is certified organic and biodynamic. Hand-picked grapes undergo a delicate pneumatic pressing before 24 to 48 hours static settling in tank followed by indigenous yeast alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in 228 litre oak barrels at 18°C. The wine matures for 18 months aging on lees in barrels (30-35% new) at 10-12°C.