Bourgogne & Luberon, France
Sylvain Morey
Sylvain Morey, owner and chief winemaker of Sylvain Morey in Chassagene Montrachet in Burgundy and Luberon hails from a Burgundian family with over 400 years of wine-making expertise. It is not a coincidence that he shares his name with the famous village of Morey-Saint-Denis, in the Cote de Nuits. While Sylvain continues to make wine in Burgundy, his main focus now is in Luberon, in the south of France, where he crafts beautiful wines from Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, Mourvèdre, Grenache Blanc and Vermentino (Rolle) among other varieties.
Sylvain established his winery in Luberon in 2002 to explore the potential of the unique terroir of the Luberon with his Burgundian roots and sensibility. His grapes come from 9 different plots located between the villages of Pertuis in the south to Cabrieres d’Aigues in the north. The viticulture has been certified fully organic since 2021.
We are delighted to work with Sylvain and offer a range of his wines to Vinalia members!
L'Odalisque
The fruit for this white blend of Grenache Blanc, Vermentino and Clairette come the Malacaire and Le Claux, vineyard plots with primarily clay soils, around 400 m above sea level to the south of the winery.
Grapes are organically grown, hand-harvested, pressed and settled for 24 hours before fermentation at 15-18°C with indigenous yeasts. The wine is aged in demi-muids (600 litre barrels) for around 20 months before bottling. There is minimal use of sulphur, and the wine is lightly filtered prior to bottling. Typically, around 5,000 bottles of this wine is produced.
Le Claux
The 2020 vintage of Le Claux was made from 98% Syrah and 2% Grenache Noir. The wine is named after the northeast oriented vineyard, 350 m above sea level on predominantly clay soils. The viticulture is organic.
Grapes are hand-picked, destemmed and fermented at low temperatures (20°-30°C) for an extended period to extract pure Syrah flavours and well-rounded tannins. The wine is aged in barrels, demi-muids and concrete vats for 18 months followed by an additional 6 months in concrete for sedimentation and softening of tannins. The wine is lightly filtered prior to bottling. Around 4,000 bottles of this vintage of Le Claux were produced.
Saint Jean
Sourced from Saint Jean, a 1.4-hectare plot in the commune of Cabrières d’Aigues, this wine is made from 98% Grenache Noir and 2% Cinsault. The vineyard is at 400m on south-facing slopes with clay and limestone soils. The Grenache vines are 60 years old (yields: 34 hl/ha) and are farmed organically.
Grapes are manually harvested and destemmed. Sulphur treatment is minimal, and the grapes are macerated for 12 days at 20°-30°C. The final blend is wine from the free-run and press juices and aged in concrete vats for 20 months. The wine was lightly filtered prior to bottling in May 2022. Around 1,800 bottles of the 2020 Saint Jean were produced.
Capriers
Vinalia members have received two of Sylvain’s single vineyard wines (Le Claux and St Jean) in 2024. We are now delighted to introduce members to the last of the single vineyard wines - Capriers. This northeast facing plot has mostly clay soils at an altitude of 450 m. The old Syrah vines, that are almost 60 years old, are slowly being replaced with other varieties. The soils bear a resemblance to the village of La Mora in Barolo, and so Sylvain has planted Nebbiolo. The vineyard is certified organic.
Capriers is an intriguing blend of Syrah (40%), Grenache Noir (25%), Pinot Noir (20%) and Nebbiolo (15%). A portion of the Pinot Noir undergoes whole bunch fermentation and is aged in demi-muids. The Grenache and Syrah are vinified together and aged in stainless steel while the Nebbiolo is aged in large demi-muids. After blending, the wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered.