Background

Dominique Lucas is from Pommard. He worked for the same négociant that his father and grandfather had worked for, followed by a domaine in Vosne Romanée. However, “there was too much chemistry happening in Burgundy at the time,” Dominique says, so he decided to go his own way. He had a few scraps of family vineyards in the Côte de Beaune, but it wasn’t enough. Because acquiring new vineyards was not financially feasible, he took a job in the Savoie, and eventually started a domaine there, with 1.5 hectares on the french shores of Lake Geneva, in the Crépy AOP.

The domaine, called Les Vignes de Paradis, is now 7.5 ha. It is certified organic. Dominique also uses biodynamic methods, and he is particularly interested in the use of medicinal plants beyond those preconized for biodynamics. Furthermore, he doesn’t hedge the vines, plows some with a horse, and allows sheep to graze on them. He also has a small négoce, Les Vins du Léman. It is 4 hectares, which Dominique farms in the same way as for the domaine. The only difference is that it is in conversion to organic. Once that is completed, both entities will be under the domaine label. “I just want to be transparent,” says Dominique. “I hate it when people are not.”

A part from several cuvées of Chasselas, the principal grape variety of the area, there is Chardonay, Savagnin, Altesse, Gamay, and more. He vinifies with ambient yeast, no SO2 during vinification and aging, aging in used demi-muids/concrete tanks/concrete eggs/amphorae, and even in a concrete tank that is a replica of the Great Pyramid of Giza, “because it embodies the golden ratio.” There is a maximum of 30mg total SO2 at bottling.

And the wines are spectacular. In many of them, there is the most beautiful Meursault-like reduction. There is a minerality that one struggles to find in other Chasselas. Dominique credits this to farming and precise picking times (done in several passes). There is energy galore, and beautiful development in the glass.