Marcel Couturier Saint-Veran Au Clos du Chateau 2023

Marcel Couturier made his first vintage in 2005 at Fuissé, in the southern Mâconnais, on a slope looking down over Loché and out to the Bresse plain. He has built the estate to 32 hectares since, and now works it alongside his children Cladie and Auxence.

The vineyards sit across a geological fault, which is the useful thing to know about this domaine. Sandstone and schist parcels give the floral, forward wines meant for drinking young; the older limestone and clay sections carry the fruit that takes barrel and rewards cellaring. That split runs through the range — Mâcon-Fuissé comes off schist from vines over fifty years old, while Saint-Véran ‘Au Clos du Château’ at Davayé is heavy clay and chalk on a south face. The Pouilly-Fuissé ‘Clos Scellés’ blends Clos Reyssié and Les Scellés across Fuissé and Chaintré, schist and clay facing east, from vines of fifty to ninety years.

Auxence has led the estate’s conversion: organic from 2018, biodynamic from 2019, and certified biodynamic in 2022. Compost is made on the property using preparations 502 to 507, with plant purines and decoctions, sulphur and low-dose copper in the vineyard. Everything is picked by hand. Since 2019 a photovoltaic array has covered part of the winery’s electricity.

Vinification and élevage are in French oak, around eleven months. Across the Mâcon, Saint-Véran, Pouilly-Loché, Pouilly-Vinzelles and Pouilly-Fuissé appellations, the domaine has become a reference point for the southern Mâconnais.