VIN NATURE | les-jardins

OUR NATURAL WINES

We started winemaking in 2019. At that time we did not have any vines, and bought all the grapes from friends and colleagues in bio-biodynamics to produce our vintages.

Since that time, water has flowed in the river and we have the great pleasure of being able to put our thoughts and research into practice on our own vines today.

From a first plot more than 300km away, we moved to another 50km away and another 10km away and we hope soon right next to our gardens?

We are what we call neo-farmers and the Jardins En-Chantants is a project built as a “non-family” installation. Which means that we started from scratch, and in a region (Alsace) and an urban area (Colmar region) subject to crazy land pressure, it is not the easiest to build the plot of our dreams ).

So we make compromises (distance), we arm ourselves with patience and, like our cultures, we take the time step by step to build our ideal farm.

And this is good (or bad depending on where you look), because currently the existing viticulture is deserting the magnificent plots of hillsides which cannot or can hardly be mechanized to invest more and more plots of plains or similar which can they be excessively mechanized.

We have therefore acquired, or rented, some “magical” plots of land which are the heritage of our elders who still worked in harmony with their environment and with poetry in the back of their minds.

GRAPES AND

THAT'S ALL!

In continuation of our work on the essential and the living. Since 2019, we have decided to produce good wine, without any inputs.
The liquids we offer you will take you to corners that have been forgotten for too long.
Pure grape juice, produced thanks to our ancestral ratchet press and the beauty of life, which will give birth to several daring vintages!!

NATURAL WINE =

-A wine whose grapes come from organic or biodynamic farming,

-A wine that is vinified and bottled without any input.

HAND HARVESTED DIRECTLY IN BOXES

The grape is the material of our wines. It is precious and that is why we limit its handling as much as possible. The harvest, of course, is done by hand, directly into 20Kg boxes. We transport it like this, then upon arrival at home we either put them in a maceration tank or depending on the project we crush them directly to press just after the harvest. In this case, head to our beautiful ratchet press before the afternoon, in order to keep our babies fresh in the morning.

Depending on the plot, we use a hood for harvesting and tip the grapes directly into the maceration tank as we go.

SLOW (VERY SLOW) MANUAL PRESSING WITH A RATCHET PRESS

Grape juice has for a long time been extracted manually or by crushing. At the time, the ratchet press was a mechanical evolution of the process.

We continue to crush our grapes before pressing them to open the berries and ensure we recover as much juice as possible.

We bought an old forgotten press and after renovation and patience, we are proud to work with this magnificent tool!!

The juice then flows by gravity directly into our barrels!

Subsequently, the marc from our grapes is spread on our vegetable beds in autumn to fertilize our market gardening soil.

AGEING IN BARRELS IN OUR CELLAR

The aging of our wines is done in "old" oak barrels or tuns that we bought second-hand and which therefore will not flavor the wine with woody notes. We simply like the fact that aging in old wood allows the wine to have micro-oxygenation with the outside.

BOTTLED AND LABELED BY HAND TOO!

Léa takes great pleasure in designing the labels and we work withthe GRAI printing works in Colmar for printing.

Our solstice bottles from the manufacturer Saverglass are special. We are proud of their shapes and their differences, it is a very important choice for us. We have decided not to ask for an Alsace appellation, so we can play as we wish with all these parameters and therefore best express our creativity.

The stoppers are entirely made of cork from the manufacturer Trescases.

We label by hand but we also wax each bottle with beeswax before affixing the Marianne to it!

All these strong choices make each bottle a unique piece of poetry, life and love.

To buy our wines, contact us by email:contact@lesjardinsenchantants.com

Find us at the Saint Joseph market in Colmar in April each year and at the free wine fairs each year:

-"Brutes" in Mulhouse

-"Mi livre - Mi raisin" in Paris

Quincié-En-Beaujolais / Gamay grape variety / Size 1.5 Hectare /
Planting years 1952 and 1973

Here we are at the start of the adventure in Beaujolais in 2020. This is far from our beloved Alsace, yes but... We love Gamay, and not yet having the possibility of working vines in Alsace we are embarking on this crazy adventure. Accompanied by our winegrower friends the Hausherr of Eguisheim, we take the challenge of transmitting, each in these bottles, the magic of this place at the top of the village of Quincié-En-Beaujolais. Opposite Mont Brouilly at more than 450m, with Mont Blanc in our sights in clear weather we can put our backs to the test and discover another way of working.

From this plot we will make two vintages (when the vintage allows us).

Gamay without my piano and Pet'Lea'La

©www.pallages.fr Beaujolais (51)©Didier Pallagès.jpg

Westhalten / Lieu-dit Strangenberg / Cépage Pinot Gris et Gewurtzraminer / Taille 16 ares / Années de plantation 1955 et 1980

Our first plot of vines in Alsace! At the very bottom of Strangenberg, a very old vineyard which finally allows us to work on our know-how close to home! Happiness...

Located at an altitude of 25Om, we will make a special wine from this pretty little plot.

MO (My Origins).

/ ""MO" are the initials of Mes Origines, the first name of the one who transmitted to me her light and her faith in life: my mother, Marie-Odile. It was therefore quite natural that we decided that our first Alsatian plot would be intended for this great wine paying homage to it. From Strangenberg, towards our ancestral press, gravitating towards our terracotta egg for half, and for the other towards a solera carried out in a Georgian qevri, then in your body. I fervently wish that this light could touch you." Gabriel Willem

Nothalten / Lieu-dit Sommerain / Pinot Auxerrois grape variety / Size 87 ares / Year of planting 1998

A very beautiful terraced plot (A cultivation terrace is a horizontal surface laid out on sloping land to facilitate the flow of runoff water and its infiltration into the soil, to combat erosion and allow the cultivation of the land. We speak of a “cultivation terrace” or “agricultural terrace”).

planted on the edge of the forest in 1998. What a joy to be able to work these vines in a wide and airy space. Situated at 370m we feel the immensity of life and possibilities as we lose ourselves in the hilly landscape.

From this Auxerrois pinot we will draw the Pet'Gab'La and we will participate in the symphony of our Gniff by adding touches of high-medium.

Wintzenheim / Lieu-dit Warstein / Cépage Pinot Gris / Taille 45 ares /
Année de plantation 2000

At 300m high we overlook the large city of Colmar. 2023 will be the first year of work on these beautiful terraces accompanied by magnificent dry stone walls on each floor. The construction is magnificent and biodiversity has its place. At the edge of the forest we will try to do our best to please everyone, leaving their place for the various animals but taking our share of the grapes of course.

This pinot gris will bring the low-mediums to our Gniff and will see the inauguration of our Pet'Brinbel'La