Domaine PELVILLAIN Frères vin de Cahors aoc

THE PRODUCTION

Viticulture :

PELVILLAIN Frères has always maintained a very strict vineyard management. Soil cultivation plays a paramount part; and vigilant care is taken to the vines in order to obtain a healthy crop just at the desired level of ripeness.
The viticultural practices can be assimilated to the “Lutte Contrôlée” - rational pest and weed control - system, which involves limited and stringently gauged use of plant health products and chemical fertilisers.
A strict limitation of the yield is maintained, mainly thanks to a permanent grass covering of the inter-row spaces.
The harvest is almost entirely mechanised. The harvesting machines are updated frequently in order to keep pace with the most advanced technology.
Francis Pelvillain is the person in charge for the viticultural part.

Élevage :

PELVILLAIN Frères has important means of wine ageing with 300 French-oak barrels at its disposal. New and used barrels of different contents made with oaks of distinct origins. Certain wines and certain vintages require nurturing in wood to give expression to all their aromatic potential and to their complexity. The know-how, which is the main element in wood ageing, was acquired in several generations of practice.

As regards the Pelvillains, on the maternal side, the vintner lineage goes back to the 19 th century. The various disasters suffered by the area never interrupted this occupation. The arrival of Claude Pelvillain, the three brothers’ father, originating from an other French region, gave however a new momentum to the wine-growing part of the family’s agricultural estate until its complete specialization of today.
It is in the 1960’s, whereas vineyard had practically disappeared after the above-mentioned climatic events, that Claude Pelvillain who was caught of passion for the wine and the region, played an prominent role in the hard work of reconstitution of the Cahors area of production which enabled, in 1971, the attainment of the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée statute.
After his retirement in 1993, he passed on the torch to his three sons who heartily continue the family work.

Winemakin :

To ensure a production of 200 000 litres per annum on average, the winery is fitted with well-suited means as for the vatting capacity, the temperature control, the destemming, etc… The equipment is kept at the forefront of technology, which involves continuous investment.
For certain wines like EULALIE of Château de Cénac, ancestral winemaking techniques in barrel are implemented.
Didier Pelvillain directs the vinification part. His philosophy is respectful of tradition yet committed to implementing the best winemaking techniques available.

THE VINEYARD

The vineyard encompasses a total surface of 36 hectares (90 acres) distributed as follows:

. 16 hectares Château du Port
. 7 hectares Château de Cénac
. 13 hectares : which production in AOC Cahors and denomination Vin de Pays du Lot is distributed under various trade marks.

The vineyard are established on terraces and plateaus alongside the Lot river where soil is mainly chalky-clayey and gravely and covered with ferruginous pebbles in some parts (Château de Cénac)
The Cahors area is situated between the 44 th and 45 th parallels at an equal distance from the Atlantic Ocean , from the Mediterranean sea and from the Pyrenees . The climate is quite sunny and rather dry, protected from the Oceanic rainy weather and from the Mediterranean heavy precipitations thus generally ensuring ripe sound crops.

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