"Uva imperat" is the motto of the Domaine du Bané, that of Rémy, wine creator in Saint-Sauveur. Indeed it is the grape that imposes itself, and I try to decode it until bottling. Ex nihilo from 2004, I have created every year since 2008, by growing and vinifying, a product that I like and would like to share with you. I compose with what nature and the vintage offer me. The harvest is the rendezvous of an adventure renewed every year.
A wine ritual over 5,000 years old, which began in Eastern Europe, in Georgia, and then, through conquests and trade with the East and the South, spread thanks to the Greeks, Egyptians, Arabs and Romans with Cato and Columella. A transmission of know-how that I try to maintain and adapt to the climate, the soil, the grape, the terroir in one word; and eco-responsible above all!
My convictions and my philosophy
I create every year wines that are different, non-standardised and rather confidential given the volume produced, which reflect a vintage. They will therefore all be different and typical of the year of production. My viticulture and winemaking practices are poles apart from industrial or semi-industrial wines.
The soil of the Domaine du Bané is an alluvial soil from the Quaternary, fluvio-glacial, sandy-silty and reddened. The Quaternary covers the last two million years. During this period there was the last ice age 20,000 years ago, when the seas were 100 m lower than today, depositing coarse sands known as alluvial. But there was also, much later, a climatic warming which raised the sea level and with it the deposit of fine sands known as organic.
Viticulture stays as close as possible to the soil and the climate. The whole estate, which is in polyculture, as well as all its products are certified High Environmental Value (HVE), a label which qualifies the preservation of biodiversity, the phytosanitary strategy, the management of fertilisation and of water resources, over the entire estate. The originality of the HVE label is to carry a societal promise not only on a product, but on the sustainability of the soil, the quality of the environment and the products that come from it, products that are respected as well as the convictions of consumers.
The treatments are those authorised and necessary in biodynamics: copper and sulphur treatments, but also "herbal teas" of horsetail, fern etc. Moreover no irrigation or water waste, no insecticide or herbicide is used and as little organic fertiliser as possible. CMR products (carcinogenic, mutagenic, reprotoxic) have always been banned from the Domaine du Bané. Soil work is mechanical, by tractor or horse. Grass cover is natural and maintained by hand, like all vineyard operations (pruning, disbudding, topping etc.), including the harvest, which is done according to the lunar calendar (as is pruning), in crates of 30 kg of grapes maximum. Volume and yield are deliberately limited, approx. 15-20 hl/ha depending on the vintage, and of course in the absence of climatic accidents!
Vinification and ageing are done as close as possible to the characteristics of the vintage, hoping that no microbiological deviance condemns the wine to the drain! Thus sulphiting is zero or reduced to a minimum, skin maceration is adapted to the harvest, the white is aged for a longer or shorter time in tanks, the red for a longer or shorter time in French oak barrels, filtered or not at bottling. Bottling, labelling and packaging are also done at the estate.
From viticulture to vinification, the standards and norms that protect your health are respected, applied, controlled and often surpassed. But the labels and other rules that standardise tastes and expressions of wine are systematically refuted. I take particular care to use quality, natural products (bottles, natural cork stoppers...) and to work with local craftsmen whenever possible.
