Arnaud Pelletier produces dreams at the Château de Prémeaux

The Château de Prémeaux is a family estate of 15 hectares located on several very prestigious appellations in Burgundy: Nuits Saint Georges, 1er cru "Clos des Argillières", 1er cru white "Aux champs Perdrix"... Arnaud Pelletier was not destined to take over the family estate, but he finally settled there and it is a great success! With great attention to detail, hard work, desire and passion, the wines of Château de Prémeaux reflect the typicity and richness of the terroirs, the simplicity and conviviality of the estate.

Arnaud Pelletier returns to the family estate

Arnaud Pelletier comes from a family of winegrowers in Burgundy. Surrounded by 2 brothers, he was not expected to take over the domain. " I was a professional basketball player but I had to stop due to an injury", says Arnaud. He discovered New Caledonia during his military service and decided to settle there. " I went to live in the northern tribes. I lived on hunting and fishing. We had no time, it was exactly what I liked," he recalls.

" One day I received a handwritten letter from my father. He told me that my brothers didn't want to take over the estate and asked me to consider coming back. "Arnaud did not want to abandon the estate, which had been in the family for 5 generations. So he left New Caledonia to become a winemaker in 2003. After a year at the wine school in Beaune, he took over the reins of the family estate: " It was love at first sight! Now we are totally inseparable ", exclaims Arnaud about the estate.

In 2008, Arnaud and his wife returned to the estate and took over the family business

Our favorite vintages of the domain:

Nuits-Saint-Georges: Ample and solid nose of red fruits and spices: pepper, cinnamon. Its tannins are silky. It is a wine with perfect balance, full-bodied and round.

Hautes Côtes de nuits Red: A magnificent silky and brilliant robe. An explosive nose with aromas of exotic fruits and slightly smoked lemon.

Bourgogne Aligoté 2017: A lively white wine with a pronounced fruitiness, with aromas of small yellow fruits (plum, mirabelle) which is a good aperitif and an ideal accompaniment to seafood.

Organic farming at Château de Prémeaux

The Château de Prémeaux is entirely certified in Organic Agriculture. " It was my father who started converting the estate to organic farming, on the plots in the Hautes Cotes de Nuits", confides the winemaker, " he had cancer because of the use of treatment products. This was a trigger and we decided to work differently. "At that time, Arnaud and his father had virgin land that had not been planted with grapes.Hautes Cotes de Nuits."First one plot, then another; little by little, the entire estate was converted to organic farming. The result is clear for Arnaud: "We have huge improvements on grape maturities and in fact, a better quality of wines. "

Arnaud's father converted the estate to Organic Agriculture

Burgundy wines that represent the diversity of the terroirs

The range of wines is very varied at Château de Prémeaux. Indeed, each parcel of vines gives rise to a wine vintage. In total,9 red wines and 4 white wines In all, the richness of the château's vineyard terroirs is demonstrated by the fact that there are many different appellations. " We have many appellations" , explains Arnaud, "even in a single appellation, each parcel is different from the others. The difference is so marked that we prefer to separate our terroirs. How fortunate!"

The work is precise, fine and delicate because Arnaud reflects all his work according to the profile of the vines and the quality of the vines. " I make my wines the way I like them ", he confides. " I look for the sensation, the touch of the mouth. The texture of the wine interests me a lot, it is for me the absolute basis. "Arnaud has his own work philosophy: " I often say: my work is to do nothing. If I have worked well in the vineyard and in the sorting of the grapes, all I have to do is check my wine very regularly. This implies a meticulous and rigorous work because the grapes that arrive in the cellar must be absolutely perfect. " It is very important to harvest at optimum maturity. The goal is not to have to move the wines once they are vatted ", explains the winemaker. For Arnaud, maturity is not only measured by the sugar level. He is also interested in the detachment of the skin, the crispness of the pips and the phenolic content. The winemaker works in detail, from the vine to the barrels. " Filtration and fining do not exist here ," Arnaud adds.

Arnaud Pelletier chooses French oak to make his barrels

Indeed, all the wines of the domain are matured in 228L barrels even if " the duration of maturation is not fixed", Arnaud nuances, "it can vary from 12 to 26 months. For the past two years, Arnaud has been fetching his own oak barrels to ensure traceability from start to finish. " We have to be precise about every little thing possible. I choose my own oaks on the best soils, I buy it, and 4 or 5 years after drying, I send the staves back to the cooper to make the barrel " he explains. He adds, "It' s these little tiny things added that allow me to get what I like. "

Arnaud Pelletier: " We are producers of pleasure

Château de Prémeaux invests in quality. It requires a functional winery and a dedicated work space, but not only. As Arnaud points out: " It's not the machinery, whatever it is, that will make good wines. We think, we are constantly asking ourselves questions " And what if the key to quality was simply there? In the intelligence of the work, the open-mindedness, the curiosity, but also the desire to dream. " We plant vines and we produce a product that is only used for pleasure. We are producers of pleasure. All this work for a product that serves no purpose, except to dream, it's great!

Manon Mouly(for Les Grappes)