Domaine Rapet Père et Fils

Our family estate is extremely old. A wine-taster from 1765 on which the family name appears is carefully kept from generation to generation..

After Robert, Roland , and now Vincent and Sylvette are hard at work managing the estate.

The Estate comprises 20 hectares of vines in the villages of Pernand - Vergelesses, Savigny les Beaune, Aloxe Corton and Beaune.

Located between Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune, the Pernand – Vergelesses vineyard, tucked away in the green surroundings of a quiet valley, begins at the foot of Corton hill.

It’s the only vineyard to offer the whole range of vintages, in both white and red wines. It provides a warm welcome to tourists and enthusiastic amateurs who will really enjoy walking in the valley and taking in the quiet beauty of this spot.

In the first instance, all our attention is directed towards the meticulous care of the vines and working the soil. We continue to invest in the business, like for example by purchasing a new tractor to use in the mechanized tilling of the soil following the Burgundy tradition: ridging, surface cultivation and ploughing between the vines.
Careful control of diseases and insects affecting the vines according to climatic conditions enables us to use a minimum of treatment.
Working the vines is a serious task demanding great application: disbudding, tying in, stripping the leaves on the side facing the rising sun to allow the grapes to take advantage of every one of the sun's rays.
Perfectly controlled yields enable us to get the best out of every plot.

With the exception of Burgundy aligoté, we use Chardonnay grapes to make our white wines. We bring back the grapes in small boxes to keep them intact, pressing being carried out with a pneumatic press that causes less damage to the grapes.
The whole grapes are placed in the press and pressing lasts for three hours. After 24 hours racking at low temperature, the grape juice is placed in barrels to ferment, the proportion of new barrels being 30%. Ageing on the lees and stirring lasts until July, bottling is carried out after 12 months ageing.

Wine making process for red wines:

We use Pinot Noir grapes for all our red wines. We look to make rich fruity wines, with a blend of tannins, typical of well-ripened grapes. We bring back the grapes in small boxes, a sorting table and conveyor enabling us to fill the tanks without damaging the grapes. Fermentation takes 15 days and the grapes are punched down so that the rich colour of the skin is transmitted to the wine before pressing. 
Ageing is in barrels, 20% of which are new. Drawing off the wine with bellows means that there is no need to use a pump. All these precautions enable us to limit handling of the grapes and wine as much as possible, in order to preserve all its riches.