Domaine FL Founier-Longchamps

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History

When his father passed away, Philip Fournier Longchamps a successful CEO of a Telecom company decided to invest in a winery.

Philip acquired two estates in 2006 and 2007 on each side of the river Loire first Domaine Jo Pithon in Anjou and second Château de Chamboureau in Savennieres, and founded Domaine FL.

Domaine FL, named after his owner Philip Fournier Longchamps is born from the passion of wine, transmitted from father to son in the Fournier family.

Born raised in the Loire, Philip and his son Julien had a clear idea on the goals they had for Domaine FL since it’s foundation; to produce exceptional wines that are able to age for decades.

In order to merge the two estates and preserve the grapes integrity during the harvest, a new building was created in Rochefort sur Loire in 2011.

The family owns today 60 hectares with almost 30 hectares on Savennières and 16 hectares located in 3 different villages: Rochefort sur Loire (Quart de Chaume), Beaulieu sur Layon St Lambert and Mozé sur le Louet. In total 25 ha are of Chenin Blanc, complemented by 5 ha of Cabernet Franc.

 

In the Vineyards

Julien gathered a highly skilled including Ludovic Pierrot, a viticultural consultant from Burgundy, specializing in organic viticulture.

An in-depth terroir analysis has been carried to adapt viticultural practices to each plot. During the first years some green harvesting was carried to reach optimum ripeness through yield reduction.

The soils are mainly Schist, with varying proportions of clay and sand.

Since 2009 the estate is certified organic and from 2015 fully converted to biodynamic.

The estate produces 6 appellations of Anjou blanc and Savennières rouge, Savennières Roche au Moines, Coteaux du Layon and the Grand Cru Quart de Chaume.

 

Winemaking

After working with Stéphane Derenoncourt for a few years, in 2014 the estate appointed the world acclaimed consulting winemaker Kyriakos Kynigopoulos who started to work towards plot-by-plot vinification bringing the estate to new levels of quality and terroir expression.

All the fruit is hand harvested, with up to 5 tries through the vines for both the dry and sweet wines, and rigorously sorted, followed by a gentle press and vatting by gravity. All care is taken to avoid oxidation and favor the terroir expression.

The wines are fermented in thermoregulated stainless steel tanks and oak vats with strict temperature control, with 10-15% renewed every year.  Then matured on the lees without racking for a varied amount of time and malolactic fermentation is avoided in the Chenin Blanc to preserve natural acidity and allow for long-term aging in bottle. Most wines use a mixture of neutral and new oak barrel to maintain a balanced complexity and while staying true to characteristics infused from the terroir.

The multiple cuvées of the estate are differentiated by the proportion of schist soil in the vineyards, with the more mineral wines being sold as the top range cuvee and having the longest ageing.

 

Wines

Savennieres Croix Picot
Savennieres Chamboureau
Savennieres Le Parc
Savennieres La Roche aux Moines

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