Domaine Couturier is led by the legendary Marcel Couturier, who comes from a long line of vignerons in the southern Mâconnais, in conjunction with the next generation of the domaine: his daughter Cladie and son Auxence. The winery is located in the commune of Fuissé, overlooking the village of Loché, Mâcon, and the great plain of Bresse. Their vineyards are located within a fault zone, meaning several different soil types exist close to one another within a small area.

The domaine is just one of four producers who are estate bottling in Mâcon-Loché. In total, Domaine Couturier farms 11 hectares of chardonnay vineyards in multiple appellations. Most of their vines are quite old, with many parcels exceeding 70 years of age and their “young” vines averaging 30 to 40 years old. 

The village wine and entry into their range is Mâcon-Loché Les Longues Terres, which is a pure expression of chardonnay from the southern Mâconnais, made with fruit from over 35-year-old vines planted in vineyards around the Loché village. The soils here consist of a clay-calcareous layer on top of impenetrable calcareous rock. The layer of workable soil is quite thin in some areas, and through plowing the soils, they are able to increase the calcareous content and health of the topsoil, resulting in an elegant, vivacious wine.

Farming is meticulous at Domaine Couturier, employing only certified organic (Ecocert 2021) and certified biodynamic (Demeter 2022) methods. They work soils with ground cover between rows to regenerate the hard, poor clay soils, which greatly benefit from the aeration and the introduction of native organic materials.

Vinification – At harvest, whole bunches are hand-picked, and once the bunches are pressed, they allow the must to settle for up to two days (static settling). Sulfur is not added to the bunches when they arrive in the winery, and the resulting wild-yeast fermentations are long and cool, as they never rush the fermentation by warming the cellar. Both alcoholic and malolactic fermentations occur naturally in four and five-year-old French Burgundy barrels. Some of the gross lees are retained during fermentation, resulting in a small amount of skin contact during both fermentation and élevage. Once the must is in the barrel, it is basically left alone from that point until it is bottled. The wines ferment and age in the same barrels without racking or bâtonnage, as they are wary of making them too fat and leesy. The wine spends a total of 10 months in its fermentation barrel and is racked only once prior to bottling. Depending on the vintage, only light bentonite fining and the necessary amount of sulfur dioxide is added before bottling. 

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