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Six New Summer 2021 Producer Visits!

A Bunch of 2021 Summer Visits From the Loire and Savoie
<p>Last summer, Jules visited almost every single Loire producer we work with along with stops in the Beaujolais, Bugey, Jura and Savoie.</p>
<p>From those visits, he's written up six recaps along with the usual pictures, stupid anectdotes and prerequisite dog pictures. Please head over to the following profiles to read up on what's been going on at:</p>
<p><a href="https://louisdressner.com/producers/domaine%20de%20bellivi%C3%A8re">Domaine de Bellivière! </a></p>
<p><a href="https://louisdressner.com/producers/pierre-olivier%20bonhomme">Pierre-O Bonhomme!</a></p>
<p><a href="https://louisdressner.com/producers/philippe%20chevarin">Philippe Chevarin!</a></p>
<p><a href="https://louisdressner.com/producers/julien%20pineau">Julien Pineau!</a></p>
<p><a href="https://louisdressner.com/producers/a%20la%20v%C3%B4tre!%7Claurent%20lebled">Laurent and Barbara Lebled!</a></p>
<p><a href="https://louisdressner.com/producers/camille%20et%20mathieu%20apffel">Camille and Mathieu Apffel!</a></p>
<p>And as an added bonus, here are two visits that were discreetly added to the site when in launched from 2019:</p>
<p><a href="https://louisdressner.com/producers/matassa">Matassa!</a></p>
<p><a href="https://louisdressner.com/producers/vinyer%20de%20la%20ruca">Vinyer de La Ruca!</a></p>
<p> </p>
Article
How does The New Website Work?

This is very exciting stuff!
<p><u><strong>Desktop vs Mobile:</strong></u></p>
<p>We know it's 2020 and people use their phones a lot. So we've worked hard on ensuring the site functions well on mobile (especially compared to what it once was). Having said that, desktop is the recommended way of perusing the site.</p>
<p><u><strong>Glossary:</strong></u></p>
<p>At its core, this has always been a website written for wine professionals *attempting* to glean information on the wines we import (and hopefully see a picture of the vigneron's dog). Since the language can be so technical, we've added an <glossary term="glossary" title="1427">interactive glossary</glossary> to the text for those unfamiliar with the baffllingly complex world of wine terminology. Even if you're a seasoned pro, it will frankly teach you a thing or two. And if you'd rather read the content without the glossary, simply head to the main menu bar and turn it off. </p>
<p> <u><strong>Our Wines Section: </strong></u></p>
<p>In the new "Our Wines" section, we've offered a variety of filter categories for you to explore and discover all the cuvées we import. These filters can be combined together to narrow down results. If you hit a wall, simply erase one of the filters or clear all filters. </p>
<p><u><strong>Actual Information About the Wines:</strong></u></p>
<p>Speaking of the wines, the number one complaint we would get from customers was the lack of technical information on the wines themselves. It's not a coincidence that we spend the vast majority of our energy focusing on the people behind the wines and their dogs; it's what we dig about what we do.</p>
<p>Having said that, 95% of the wines we import now have EXTREMELY detailed technical information, dare I say the most technical anywhere on the internet. Please enjoy now while they are up to date, knowing that half of these will probably be totally wrong by next vintage. </p>
<p><u><strong>Search:</strong></u></p>
<p>If you know what producer or wine you are searching for, the search should quickly autofill what you need. Go ahead, give it a whirl.</p>
<p><strong><u>Hyperlinks:</u></strong></p>
<p>Everything on the website has a hyperlink now. This means you can easily share a specific producer page, article, wine or filter combination with anyone. </p>
<p><u><strong>Copy/Paste:</strong></u></p>
<p>If you need to copy/paste anything, the glossary needs to be turned off for the text to paste correctly. Also, if you are going to straight up use our writing verbatim, PLEASE credit us when doing so. Seems obvious but we see it happen all the time. </p>
<p><u><strong>A Shit-Ton of Written Content:</strong></u></p>
<p>The articles themselves can often be very long, and for this reason we developed a Propriety Pop Up System™ where you can easily scroll through various articles/wines and "pop out" to efficiently look at the rest of the content.</p>
<p>We've tried our best to pack as many dog pictures as possible in there, but the digital ink has been spilled: the cumulation of decades' worth of writings from Joe, Denyse, Kevin and Jules is here for you to read. A huge part of the work with this new website was to find better ways to condense and extract essential information you need without getting lost in all that BORING text. </p>
<p>We still think you should check it out. Don't worry, there are plenty of pictures. And you might even find the writing interesting. Or funny. Or both. </p>
Article
EXPLORE
A Very Challenging 2021 at Domaine du Closel
<p>On October 12, we <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvested</glossary> the last grapes of a very challenging <span class="zalup"><span> <glossary term="Vintage" title="1109">vintage</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p>
<p>Spring was first marked by a major <glossary term="Frost" title="1135">frost</glossary> episode in early April, which caused real crop losses (around 60%). However, our emblematic Clos du Papillon <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plot</glossary> was relatively spared thanks to the investment of the <glossary term="Estate" title="427">estate</glossary> team (Simon, Vincent, Valentin..) and many friends who came to light the candles for several consecutive nights. This nocturnal work paid off: we obtained a nice <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> The juices are in <glossary term="Barrel" title="142">barrels</glossary> and we enjoy listening to the sweet melody of the <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Fermentation" title="441">fermentations</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p>
<p> The other <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plots</glossary> did not survive the shock so well, rainy summer months generated pressure from fungal diseases such as downy <glossary term="Mildew" title="1137">mildew</glossary> and difficulties for the ripening of the grapes. Yields are historically low, from 2 to 18 <glossary term="hl/ha" title="528">hl/ha</glossary> depending on the <glossary term="Cuvée" title="363">cuvées</glossary> and grape varieties... but the quality of the juice is quite satisfactory due to the last sunny days of the <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> We remain optimistic and are now paying special attention to the <glossary term="Aging" title="74">aging</glossary> of these wines!</p>

2021 for Salvo Foti
<p>It's been a long time since there had been seasonal trends like that of 2021. The abundant spring rains provided the soils with good humidity, but made the spread of powdery <glossary term="Mildew" title="1137">mildew</glossary> aggressive. Our traditional work of cultivation, which involves a meticulous <glossary term="Green Harvest" title="507">green pruning</glossary> and repeated cuttings of the leaves around the <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cluster/Bunch" title="1138">bunch</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> allowed us to have healthy <glossary term="Cluster/Bunch" title="1138">bunches</glossary> in a natural way. The summer was particularly hot and dry, with recurring heatwaves and a long period of <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Drought" title="1167">drought</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> These summer conditions brought the vine to a natural stress for lack of water, fortunately our autochthonous <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Nerello Mascalese/Nerello Cappuccio" title="713">Nerello Mascalese</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary term="Nerello Mascalese/Nerello Cappuccio" title="713">Nerello Cappuccio</glossary> and <glossary term="Carricante" title="239">Carricante</glossary> produce greater synthesis of sugars and matter. </p>
<p>The fall, at times particularly rainy, helped the sap that had been momentarily blocked by the drought flow again, giving the vines vigor and allowing a slow and natural maturation. The rains continued to be abundant until October. This did not damage the bunches, which went through a slow and excellent ripening. Our precise and complete work of green pruning the leaves around bunches in June allowed for healthy grapes to grow without further treatments of sulfur or copper.</p>
<p>Our harvest started on October 1st in <glossary term="Milo" title="1460">Milo</glossary> picking a part of the <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Carricante" title="239">Carricante</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> We then picked the Vignacalderara vineyard for reds. Then back to <glossary term="Milo" title="1460">Milo</glossary> for the "VignadiMilo" and "Palmento Caselle", and again to Vignacalderara for the "Vinupetra" and "VitiCentenarie". After a few days of rest, we <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvested</glossary> the Tartaraci Soprano vineyard and finally Vignabosco (which produces "Vinuldilice") on October 22nd. Vignabosco was the only sector we picked earlier than usual, in this case a full week (note: this is technically the highest cultivated vineyard in all of <glossary term="Etna" title="429">Etna</glossary> and one of the highest in the world.)</p>
<p>In <glossary term="Milo" title="1460">Milo</glossary>'s <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Carricante" title="239">Carricante</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> we had fallout of <glossary term="lapilli" title="1461">lapilli</glossary> on several occasions. Sometimes it crept between the <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cluster/Bunch" title="1138">bunches</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> On August 29th there was an important and prolonged eruption in the afternoon with major dumps of <glossary term="lapilli" title="1461">lapilli</glossary> and <glossary term="-Select term-" title="">volcanic ash</glossary> covering the <glossary term="Carricante" title="239">Carricante</glossary> vineyards. Fortunately we did not have any damage on the <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cluster/Bunch" title="1138">bunches</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> This was possible because The natural umbrella-like bearing of the leaves of our vines cultivated in <glossary term="Gobelet" title="497">alberello</glossary> with <glossary term="Chestnut Wood" title="1206">chestnut</glossary> stakes, they defended the <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cluster/Bunch" title="1138">bunch</glossary><span>:</span></span></span> after the incident many leaves were pierced by the <glossary term="lapilli" title="1461">lapilli</glossary> relapse. This fact is a further demonstration of the need and adequacy of cultivating the vineyards on <glossary term="Etna" title="429">Etna</glossary> in <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Gobelet" title="497">alberello</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> </p>
<p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//928/ed/01/ed01a0c357127774e6f440b0f2db186a.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//928/40/ea/40eadc62830fad09e45977622f0c4496.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//928/39/11/39119e51ed7b59510d881c174dc6296d.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//928/28/6a/286a6d0d3b2f847760a8db35b88b6c3a.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//928/2a/bd/2abd131419dbd8ecd7f0b4283292f919.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//928/0a/0c/0a0c00b0523c600d809c5d339ba2799a.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//928/86/4f/864f65e195a8c7dec288045cfd8d72bb.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//928/ec/51/ec51443845f5d995ab54d90f26f192ba.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//928/a1/cb/a1cbd5a54a5adcc3482d7786addfbade.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//928/88/e0/88e0dc9aa4483fe4c899074ffe98d024.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//928/28/04/28048462e70ec0c8311eddddbb57e872.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//928/c8/77/c8772e17740aaa32c9c18e3d0b521873.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//928/5d/19/5d19d1caea76c8f756354026a8ce67dd.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//928/19/46/1946218856dc420081802c024562834c.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//928/8c/17/8c17511993560f580b460dc75c8ea07c.jpg" /></p>