• Sylvain Pataille

    • Bourgogne Aligoté Les Auvonnes Au Pépé

    At a Glance

    • Size: 0.10 ha (0.25 ac)
    • Variety: Aligoté Doré
    • Vine Age: Planted in the 1930s
    • Terroir: On an east-facing slope, 250-meters' elevation, clay-marl soil with many small limestone rocks
    • Viticulture: Certified organic, biodynamic methods
    • Vinification: Pressed with a vertical press, ambient yeast fermentation, aged for 12 months in used barrels and demi-muids, minimal SO2 added at bottling.

    Additional Info

    Etymology: Grandpa’s Auvonnes.

    Auvonne, or Auvone, is the regional dialect for avoine, meaning oats, from the Latin AVENA, meaning wild oats. Auvonnes is therefore a place where oats used to be grown. (Marie-Hélène Landrieu-Lussigny.)

    Pépé is informal French for grandfather or old man. This vineyard belonged to Sylvain’s grandfather. Unlike Auvonnes, Pépé is not part of the name of the lieu-dit.

    This vineyard used to belong to Pataille's grandfather, hence the Pépé in the cuvée title.

    Average annual production is only 25 cases.

    Sylvain notes the characteristic reductive minerality despite the change in location, grape, and bedrock. He believes this minerality is so beautiful that it would be a shame to make red wine on this terroir.