Pernand Premier Cru "En Caradeux"

The name Pernand possibly stems from the Gallic nanto, " stream, valley", preceded either by the Latin base petra, "stone", or the Gallic petru, "four". Pernand can then be either the village of the four valleys, the village located at the crossroads or at a distance of four "bornes" (6 km) from Beaune.

The En Caradeux parcel, facing east, is situated on a very steep slope at the bottom of a hillock. The ground is not very rocky, the soil is light and sandy on crumbling lava amongst gravelly scree. The spelling of En Quart à Deux, dating from the XIXth century, suggests that the parcel owes it's name to the it's square form between two paths leading onto the road that passes through Pernand. The upper part of the slope is classified as appellation village and the greater part as 1er Cru.

White wine vinificationc : we bring in the grapes in small crates to keep them intact. The pressing is carried out with a pneumatic press which is less damaging to the grapes. The whole grapes are placed in the press and the pressing lasts for two hours. After 24 hours' settling at low temperatures, the grape juice is transferred into barrels to ferment, the proportion of new barrels being 30%. Ageing on lees with stirring lasts until July and the wine is bottled after 12 months of ageing.

The white wines produced from here are better structured than those of the appellation village. They are very fruity and fragrant and the mineral notes are agreeably round. You can easily keep this wine 4 to 8 years. This 1er cru En Caradeux goes well with fish in papillotes, pâtés en croûte, poêlés or roasts, as well as delicately prepared white meat.