2021 Sextant - Julien Altaber Foufou'nette

WINEMAKER: Julien Altaber & Carole Schwab
REGION: Burgundy, FR
VARIETAL: Aligoté, Apricot
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic

"This cuvée has become part of the standard production despite it being originally an experiment and a fun thing to do! Here Julien has made this amazing pétillant naturel with a difference. And the difference is that it is made primarily from the Aligoté grape variety which has had an infusion of apricots! Julien puts a large “tea bag” of apricots in with the fermenting wine and it develops undertones of the apricots without dominating the resultant sparkling wine.

Why did he do such a radical thing for this wine. Well, it is all rather simple. The famous Belgian brewer of lambic beers, Cantillon, has a beer called Fou’Foune and guess what they do. You guessed, they add 300 grams of apricots for every one litre of beer and leave it to macerate for 5 weeks. So this is an homage to a beer that Julien likes very much." - Living Wines

Julien is a thoughtful person who has absorbed the art and the science of winemaking and decided to branch out with his own wines made from grapes sourced from some very good terroirs in the area. Julien and Carole Schwab have now bought the Domaine Derain business in addition to their commitments to the Sextant domaine and will be making the Derain wines from now on (with Dominique still in the background!).