Châteaumeillant
Grower
Profiles
Domaine
du Chaillot
Picot is an
old Berrichon name and
Pierre Picot was born on the family farm in Bussy in 1959. The youngest of
three children and clearly bright, he studied overseas (where he learnt to
speak impeccable English) before returning to the family business. In
looking for new opportunities, he toured nearby Quincy but found nothing
to buy, before visiting a family friend in Vesdun, a village to the
extreme east of the Châteaumeillant appellation. Here he discovered a 17
hectare mixed agriculture farm that had been previously planted to vines.
He bought Le Chaillot and planted one hectare of Gamay whilst working a stage in Sancerre to gain some winemaking experience. Picot
harvested his first crop in 1993, making the wine in one of the farm’s
outbuildings. He still lives at the family farm some 50 kilometres north of Vesdun,
which explains the address at the bottom of the page, but he has a full
time employee who lives in the old farmhouse at Le Chaillot.
Despite being an outsider, he is very highly respected by the other
growers in the region and has for the past five years been President of
the growers' syndicat, becoming
instrumental in negotiating with the INAO in discussions to elevate the
appellation from its current V.D.Q.S. status. On a personal level, Picot
believes that whilst it is necessary for Châteaumeillant to receive AC
status, the name of the domaine and his own reputation are more
important.
OVERVIEW:
For the first three vintages Picot worked solely with the lone hectare
of vines he planted in the late 1980s. He now owns 8.5 hectares over three
sites: the original Le Chaillot vineyard has been expanded and a further
parcel, La Croix de l’Hommée some three kilometres away has been added.
In addition to this, Picot has planted another vineyard two kilometres
further south - but over the departmental Cher boundary - in Allier. Le
Chataignier Sou has also been planted to Gamay, but also ‘out of
curiosity’ to seven ares of Tressallier, an ancient Bourbonnais variety,
perhaps better known elsewhere as Sacy, harvested for the first time in
2008.
With the exception of the Tressalier and nine ares of Chardonnay planted
at Le Chaillot, all of Picots red wines are made from Gamay. Here he holds
different views to his peers. Despite being a newcomer, he believes in
maintaining the tradition of the appellation, and perpetuating the
planting of Gamay. He states that the micraschiste
(granular gravel soils derived from granite subsoils) are the same as can
be found on the hills of Beaujolais, and that the calcaire-loving Pinot
Noir has no place on these slopes.
THE WINES:
From the original farm shed where he vinified his first harvest in
1993, Picot has been adding onto the cellar in stages as his vineyards
holdings have grown, the latest in time for the 2008 harvest. All the
grapes here are picked by hand and fermentation is conducted in fibre
glass tanks. Demand for his wines is high and they tend to disappear as soon
as he has bottled them. Three quarters of the production is sold
domestically, although he has an important market in Holland.
From the 2008 harvest, Picot will produce six different wines, three of
which are under the Châteaumeillant appellation. There is the ubiquitous gris
and two reds: a generic label and ‘Parenthèse’, from grapes sourced
exclusively from Le Chaillot. The method of production remains the same
for both. The other cuvées are all Vin de Pays: ‘Nuit Blanche’ is
from Chardonnay first harvested in 2005, and there is a partner Vin du
Pays de Loire red, made exclusively from Gamay. The final wine will be the
Tressallier which is to be sold as ‘Sainte-Agathe’ named after a local
mountain, as Vin de Pays de l’Allier.
Pierre Picot
Domaine du Chaillot
Place de la Tounoise
Dun-sur-Auron
T: + 33 2 48 59 57 69
F: + 33 2 48 59 58 78
Pierre.picot@wanadoo.fr
www.domaine.du.chaillot.free.fr