Rijckaert
The story of Rijckaert's farm combines a Belgian man's love for Burgundy and a man who grew up in the Jura region's love for nature. In our opinion, the combination is the most successful, and thus our selections include Rijckaert wines from both regions!
Jean Rijckaert founded the winery bearing his name in 1998 in the Mâconnais region. Previously, Jean had become known for the micronégociant business of Maison Verget, which he had founded together with the famous winemaker Jean-Marie Guffens after settling in the Mâconnais region in 1990. However, after a few years, Jean decided to buy 4 hectares of his own vineyards in the Mâconnais region and started producing wines from his beloved Chardonnay grape. The farm's Burgundy orchards are located in the Viré-Clessé, Mâcon-Lugny, Mâcon-Montbellet and Saint-Véran regions. However, Jean was also a big fan of Jura wines and convinced of the quality potential of the region, so even before the turn of the millennium he acquired 5 hectares of vineyards in the Arbois and Côtes de Jura regions. Today, the estate produces wines in both locations with its own equipment, so that the winemaking takes place as close to the vines as possible. In addition to its own 9-hectare orchards, the farm also buys grapes from other local farmers. However, the harvesting, processing, winemaking and bottling of the grapes are done entirely by the farm itself, just like in the case of grapes from owned vineyards.
In the cellars of the wineries, the wines are made according to the same principles: vineyard by vineyard without added yeasts or enzymes. The wines ferment and mature in oak barrels, a small part of which are renewed every year. During maturation, the lees are mixed to a limited extent so that the acidity that refreshes the wines gets its due. Only a small amount of sulfur dioxide protects the wines and enables their favorable aging potential. If necessary, the wines are also filtered.
In 2013, Rijckaert began to gradually transfer responsibility for the operation of the farm to Florent Rouve, who was born in Montpellier and grew up in the Jura region, whose love for wines had been born while working in vineyards and farms alongside his studies in forestry and agriculture. Florent and Jean had met during Florent's oenology studies at Domaine des Poncétys, the winery of the Polytechnic of Mâcon-Davayé. Since Rijckaert himself had no heirs, after becoming an oenologist, Florent began to truly take Rijckaert's estate forward, and in his hands the estate's wines from both Burgundy and the Jura region have become even more expressive. However, the work is mainly done in nurseries, where the vines' own vitality and immunity against fungal diseases are nurtured by strengthening biodiversity without chemical interventions. The soil in the garden areas is plowed and only copper sulfate is used in addition to plant-based fertilizers. The goal of vineyard work is to reduce erosion, especially on steep vineyards, to help the rhizomes of vines dig deeper into the soil to obtain sufficient water and minerals, and to promote the vitality of strong and versatile natural yeast strains, so that cellar work can be carried out without excessive intervention by the winemaker. The farms have been converting to organic production for the second year already.
Rijckaert wants to make wines that everyone can enjoy. Therefore, the estate wants to produce wines that are dynamic, fresh, bring a festive feel to everyday life and are suitable for sharing. Rijckaert also does not believe in dogmatism when it comes to pairing food and wine, because they believe that everyone should be able to enjoy wines according to their own preferences. It's easy for us to identify with this too!
Wines from the farm's own orchards are labeled green, and wines made from purchased grapes are brown. The farm's total annual production is around 120,000 bottles.
