Gitton Père & Fils
France
Starting with a small plot of less than an hectare in 1945, Marcel & Huguette Gitton discovered and pioneered this single-site, terroir-focused Sancerre. The exclusively estate grown and bottled wines have been sold in over 30 countries for more than 40 years. Marcel Gitton was passionate about vineyards and separating each cuvée according to different soils, grafting and exposition.
Pascal, son to Marcel Gitton, his wife Denise, and daughter Chanel, carry on the tradition today. The vineyard today extends over 33 hectares, of which 80% are sauvignon and 20% are pinot noir and are planted on small plots around the village.
The geographic location on the Hills of Sancerrois, nearby the Loire river bed, offer diversity of terroir, and has driven the Estates passion towards vinifying each single plot separately since the 1950s.
The Estate’s soils are fragmented around the hill of L’Orme aux Loups which used to host flint quarries until the 1970s. Half of their vineyards are grown in flinty soils, difficult to work on, producing wines which show notes of citrus, flint minerals and hints of ripe stone fruit.
The Estates vine stocks average 45 years of age, and the vinification methods add extra complexity to the wines.
White wines are vinified in 600L French oak barrels and full-bodied white wines are fermented in barrels and aged for at least 9 months. The Estate age two thirds of their whites in stainless steel for 6 months to keep them crisp and fruity, producing powerful and intense Sancerre whites, flinty and mineral with crisp acidity.
Gitton’s wines include:
- Pouilly-Fume Clos Joanne D’Orion – is a single-vineyard wine that is well-textured with fresh, concentrated citrus, pear and peach fruit notes leading to a creamy but delicate mouthfeel. There’s warmth as well, showing that the wine has come out with a bit of bottle-aging.
- Sancerre Galinot – is a very powerful and intense Sancerre, flinty and mineral with crisp acidity. It shows notes of citrus, flint minerals and hints of ripe stone fruits.
- Sancerre ‘Les Herses’ – is fruity, crisp and with good acidity and is just settling into balance. Touches of the wood aging are there along with brightly herbal green-fruit flavours. The wine is rich with acidity as well as hints of tropical fruits in the background.
- Sancerre Belles Dames – this wine has got a pale lemon in colour with aromas of citrus, green apple and wet stone. It is light bodied with flavours of pear, green apple, honey, brioche and minerals.
WINES BY
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