Heitz Lochardet

The very young Armand Heitz directs this small but growing 5 ha domaine that he farms biodynamically. The domaine's roots descend to 1857 when it was substantially larger (more than 20 ha) but over time bits and pieces were either sold or leased to others. As to the winemaking, Heitz noted that the harvest is done manually with sorting done in the vineyards themselves. For the reds the vinification is done with 100% whole clusters where there isn't much cold soaking and with more pumping over than punching down during a roughly 10 day fermentation period. The wines are then racked into barrel for a 12 month élevage period where about 25% of the wood is new. The reds are neither fined nor filtered but the whites typically receive both manipulations. Heitz told me that he wants to make the purest wines that he can that simultaneously express the underlying terroir "as clearly as possible which means that the less that I do, the more clearly my wines can speak". Stylistically I would describe the wines as achieving that goal as they really are admirably pure. BURGHOUND