De Moor
Alice and Olivier de Moor, who live in the village of Courgis, 7km southwest of the town of Chablis, know their farm extremely well. Olivier knows all of Courgis like the back of his hand, as the current wine cellar is located on the ground floor of his old home, under his grandparents' apartment. However, the surrounding landscape has changed from Olivier's childhood landscapes, as vineyards have replaced forests, bushes and wastelands over the years.
Alice and Olivier, who are from the Jura region, met when they were both working for one of the big producers of Chablis. Olivier was responsible for the farm's orchards, although both have graduated as oenologists from Dijon. Together, they decided to choose a path radically different from the consensus and founded their own unique winery. For the first time in 1989, the couple planted vines in the nurseries of Bel-Air, Clardy and Rosette, where Olivier's uncle had also decided to plant his nurseries. They carried out their first harvest in 1994, although only 15 hectoliters of the crop was kept. In the same fall, the couple resigned from their previous jobs and rented more orchards in Saint-Bri: the 0.55ha Aligoté orchard planted in 1902 and the 0.40ha Sauvignon Blanc orchard planted in 1950. For the following years, the couple took care of their 4-hectare orchards, collecting additional services by tending the orchards of other winemakers as well. In 1996, the couple managed to plant a vineyard called Champagne in Chitry with Aligoté and Chardonnay, and in 2017, as their latest acquisition, they bought two premier cru plots. The 0.92ha plot acquired from Vau de Vey was planted in 1953, and the steep Mont de Milieu 0.82ha plot was planted in the 1930s and 1980s.
Today, Olivier takes care of the couple's 10 hectares of own and leased gardens, while Alice is responsible for winemaking and office work. However, all decisions are made together. Since 2008, the couple's orchards have been organically certified, which is still quite rare in the Chablis region. The De Moors themselves say they make Chablis the way the region's wines were originally made. This means that the neutral taste world typical of Chablis is not suppressed, but the grapes are also not picked too raw and the wines are not blocked with sulfur dioxide. Instead, there is a ripe fruity, supple and surprisingly full-bodied wine in the glasses: the new wave of Chablis, which the world is following with interest.
In the cellar, the wine is moved by gravity. Since 2008, the grapes have been pressed very gently with a pneumatic press as soon as they arrive from the orchards. Sulfur dioxide is not used when harvesting grapes or during the fermentation process. The wines ferment spontaneously and for a long time in the cellars, and malolactic fermentation can also take place in peace. As a rule, the wines mature in Burgundians of different ages and in large barrels, although there are also steel and concrete tanks in the cellar. There are also a few amphorae in the basement. The wines are never clarified, but the stability of the wines is ensured by filtering, especially if the natural yeast strain ceases to function so that a little residual sugar remains in the wines. Total sulfur dioxide amounts are always below 50mg/l and no sulfur is added except during bottling.
In 2018, the de Moors produced 12 different wines, 9 of which were made from grapes from their own orchards and 3 from purchased grapes under the name Le Vendangeur Masquée. All purchased grapes are also certified organic. The couple also likes to have fun with their wines, and in 2019 they also bought some Riesling from Alsace. In addition to taking care of the barns, Olivier also draws the labels for all the wines. The man was supposed to become an artist, but he suspected that the path would lead to death by starvation, and he switched to working with wine as a whole.
The farm's annual production is around 50,000 bottles. The producer has an organic certificate.
