Quincy

Grower Profiles

Domaine des Grands Ormes
Christophe Gallon comes from good Berrichone stock, the family being established here for countless generations. The farm itself is situated on the side of the Quincy to Brinay road, marked by a series of disheveled looking barns and a farmhouse annexed to an 18^th Century dovecote surround the courtyard. This was once a site for mixed farming, which would have included viticulture; Gallon’s grandmother apparently last made wine here in the 1950s, until making wine was no longer profitable and she grubbed up her vines.

Until the end of the 1980s, the farm’s existence relied on growing cereals and the raising of goats. But in 1991, Christophe also climbed on the vinous bandwagon and started to replant the vineyards abandoned by his grandmother. His first crop should have been 1994, but this was decimated by the spring frosts of that year, so it was not until a season later that he made his first wine; converting one of the barns to a makeshift cellar and installing fibreglass and stainless steel tanks.

Gallon now has a total of eight hectares, split over two parcels from which he makes two separate cuvées, imaginatively referred to as Tradition and Prestige. The latter represents one hectare of the vineyard planted in 1991. In addition to selling wine off the farm to private clients (he has no export business) he moves around 20% of his production each year to the négoce who appreciate a ready source for an off-the-peg Quincy.

On arrival, the sorry appearance of the farm can hardly fill any prospective client with much confidence, but Gallon managed to produce good, sound and authentic Quincy in 2009.

Domaine des Grands Ormes
Christophe Gallon
Les Grands Ormes
Brinay
T: + 33 2 48 51 09 06
F: + 33 2 48 51 14 53

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