Domaine Guffens-Heynen Saint-Véran 1er Jus 2022

1er Jus is bottled only from the free-run and first-press fractions of Guffens-Heynen's Saint-Véran, the most delicate and lowest-pH juice to leave the press.

Saint-Véran covers a string of communes on either side of Pouilly-Fuissé in the southern Mâconnais, where Chardonnay grows on limestone slopes that give wines of clarity and moderate weight. Jean-Marie Guffens and Maine Heynen came from Belgium to Vergisson in 1976, bought their first plots at Pierreclos in 1979 and made a first vintage in 1982; the domaine still runs to only 5.65 hectares, spread across Vergisson, Pierreclos and Davayé, the last of these within Saint-Véran. Guffens holds yields to around thirty-seven or thirty-eight hectolitres per hectare, ploughs sparingly and keeps grass through the rows all year to limit compaction and nitrogen, which gives smaller and more concentrated berries. He presses on a modified Coquard press, the type used in Champagne rather than Burgundy, precisely so the fractions can be kept apart: the first juice goes into this bottling and the last press fractions, higher in pH, into the entry-level wines. Fermentation is with native yeasts in barrel or concrete, with several rounds of bâtonnage.

Drink it over the next five years with scallops, roast pork or a goat's cheese, and serve at 10-12°C.

*Every effort is made to ensure the current vintage is accurate; however, variations can occur. If you are after a specific vintage, please contact us prior to ordering.