Visit us to shop and hang in person or order online for quick and easy pick up.
Address
210 EAST VERMILION STREET LAFAYETTE, LA 70501
Hours
Tues-Thurs
1pm-7pm
Friday & Saturday
1pm-8pm
Closed Sunday & Monday
21 and Over Only to Buy Wine.
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We Do Not Ship Wine or Alcohol.
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In the 2017 vintage, the de Moors made their first foray into premier-cru Chablis, in this case by purchasing a 0.92-hectare parcel in the Vau de Vey vineyard (its name means "little valley" in local parlance). The parcel was planted in 1983 and is southeast-facing and steep. The de Moors have converted it from heavily chemical conventional farming to organics and planted fruit trees on its border to promote bee life during the growing season. The fruit is harvested by hand, destemmed, gently pressed and fermented spontaneously with indigenous yeasts in used Burgundy barrels. The wine goes through malo and is aged on its lees without bâtonnage or racking in barrel for a year or more. Bottling is without fining or filtering and the only point at which a touch of sulfur is added to the wine. The premier crus are released a year later than the other de Moor wines.
Alice and Olivier de Moor live and work in Courgis, a small village 7km southwest of Chablis. It is where Olivier grew up, and his “old” cellar, the part where he ages his Chablis in oak barrels, is underneath his grandparents’ house. From the hill where Courgis sits, the view is of vineyards over hills all the way to the Chablis Grands Crus.
Olivier says the landscape has changed a lot in his lifetime, that all the woods, bushes and fallow land that dotted the hills have disappeared in favor of vines.
Alice is from the Jura, and the two met at a large Chablis estate where Olivier was in charge of the vineyards. Both are enologists, graduates of the Dijon enological school, with enough knowledge to take a radically different direction for their vines and wines than their neighbors. While the division of labor principally consists of Olivier in the vines and Alice in the cellar and office, both are equally omnipresent in every role and all decisions are made together.
They began their estate by planting three plots of Chablis-Bel-Air, Clardy and Rosette-in 1989. Of their first harvest in 1994, they kept only 15HL and sold off the rest. They were still employed elsewhere, but quit that fall after leasing their Saint-Bris vines: 0.55HA of planted in 1902 and 0.40HA of Sauvignon Blanc planted in 1950. For the next three years, they worked their four hectares of vines while tending the vines of other winemakers to make a living. In 1996, they planted a large plot in Chitry (the parcel is called "Champagne") with Aligoté and Chardonnay.
The whole Chablis area is highly calcareous, with soils formed millions of years ago in a warm, shallow sea. The limestone here is rich in shellfish fossils, including oysters (exogyra virgula), urchins, bivalves and ammonites. There are three estate bottlings of Chablis: "L'Humeur du Temps", "Rosette" and "Bel-Air & Clardy", the last a blend of the two plots.
The final and most recent additions come from the 2017 purchase of two plots of 1er Cru vineyards. Vau de Vey represents 0.92 hectares of vines planted in 1953 on heavy marl that remind Olivier of the Rosette vineyard. The name is local dialect for "little valley".
Denny & Katie
Owners
Your friendly neighborhood wine shop and tiny bar, focused on small production wines and conservas. Connect with us on Instagram for suggestions on your next bottle and to follow along in our downtown Lafayette wine journey.
Visit us to shop and hang in person or order online for quick and easy pick up.
Hours
Tues-Thurs
1pm-7pm
Friday & Saturday
1pm-8pm
Closed Sunday & Monday