Summary
Marcel Couturier comes from a long line of vignerons in the southern Mâconnais, where he is just one of four producers estate bottling in Mâcon-Loché. Working his family’s old chardonnay vines, he began estate-bottling in 2005.
Marcel farms 11 hectares of chardonnay vineyards total in multiple different appellations: Pouilly-Fuissé, Pouilly-Loché, Saint-Véran, Mâcon-Loché, Mâcon-Vinzelles, and Mâcon Blanc. Most of his vines are quite old with many parcels exceeding 70 years of age and his “young” vines averaging 30 years in age.
His vineyards are certified-organic and biodynamic (pending biodynamic certification in 2021), and he plows the soil to curtail weeds and believes the hard, poor clay soils greatly benefit from the aeration and the introduction of native organic materials. His farming style could be described as regenerative, in that he has taken great care to improve the soil in each of the vineyards he farms. Being a traditional farmer, Marcel lets his chickens, geese, and guinea fowl roam the vineyards for natural pest control and to add valuable nitrogen to the poor Burgundian soils.
In the cellar, his approach is equally hands-off utilizing spontaneous, native yeast fermentation that takes place deep in his cold cellar in Loché. He does not add sulfur to the grapes when they arrive in the winery. Both alcoholic and malolactic fermentations occur naturally in traditional Burgundy barrels, where he retains some of the gross lees during fermentation, resulting in a small amount of skin contact during both fermentation and élevage. Once the wines are in the barrel, they are basically left alone from that point until they are racked and bottled.
