Producer François Dumas

FRANCE, RHONE

François Dumas' small company was founded in 2010, when the young François returned to Véranne, his hometown in the northern part of the Rhone, 19 km from Condrieu. After a period of study and apprenticeship at some iconic French wine companies such as Trapet in Burgundy, Cuilleron and Chave in Rhône, François returns to his native land with a great wealth of experience and awareness regarding the work in the vineyard and in the cellar, as well as with a clear idea of ​​the wines he wants to produce. Dumas then begins to cultivate about 4 hectares of vineyards - some of which are not yet in production - and plants some vines in mass selection assisted by a famous nurseryman of the area, Lilian Berillon. The vineyards, which are highly parceled and even 12 km away from the cellar, are located on prevalent soils (Condrieu) which rests on alluvial soils mixed with pebbles, silt and clay. François tends to work his land only once or twice a year, as he rarely mows the grass that covers them so as not to diminish the healthiness of the soils. The Viognier is bred with guyot, while the other sapling varieties. The yields per hectare, which vary according to the year, are around 25 hl / ha. Harvesting is manual in 20 kg crates. Fermentations, carried out with spontaneous yeasts, are quite long, ranging from 3 to 4 weeks. After racking, the reds are aged in used wooden barrels, while the whites in 400 liter barrels purchased in 2013, so that they can soak up its indigenous yeasts and of course its wines. A small domaine that produces very few bottles that of François Dumas, but the young winemaker works completely alone, loves little to delegate and at the moment has no intention of enlarging. The labels produced are cuvées of “Vin de Pays” and “Vin de France” based on Gamay and Syrah (in production since 2011), a Saint-Joseph and a Condrieu (since 2013). At the moment there is also an experimentation of Pinot Noir coming from a small parcel of 400 m².