DB Sutton & Co Wine Shop
Domaine de la Touraize Arbois Ploussard “La Cabane” 2022
Domaine de la Touraize Arbois Ploussard “La Cabane” 2022
"André-Jean (“A-J”) Morin is the eighth generation of Morin to tend the vine in Arbois, beginning with his ancestor Etienne in 1704, but the family enterprise nearly didn’t survive the calamitous 20th century. A-J’s grandfather Marius, deeply scarred by his years of service in the First World War, stopped producing wine in 1922 and sold off all his vineyards except for one tiny parcel: La Touraize. From this single plot, and against the advice of Marius, A-J’s father Michel began rebuilding the estate in the mid-1950s, and A-J joined him in 1985, during which time they sold their fruit to the local co-operative. In 2009, A-J left the co-operative, selling three of his 15 hectares to finance the construction of his winery, and today he and his wife Héléana bottle the entirety of their production under the Domaine de la Touraize label.
“La Cabane” (“the shack”) comes from 1.2-ha. of Ploussard in two parcels: the blue marl of Curoulet planted in the early 1980s, and the grey marl of La Touraize planted in the early 1960s. The bunches are hand-harvested and also painstakingly de-stemmed by hand. The fruit is transferred by gravity to stainless steel, where it macerates semi-carbonically for two weeks before pressing, and the wine spends six months in large used barrels before being bottled without filtration, and with just 10-mg/L of added sulfur. Remarkably pure-fruited and ethereal, “La Cabane” clocks in under 12% alcohol (A-J never chaptalizes) yet expresses immense mineral depth. In its gorgeous translucent hue, its soaring aromas of citrus zest and red apples, and its light yet persistent palate, it embodies the uniqueness of this beloved indigenous variety."
- Rosenthal Wine Merchant