Fanette Fessy & Jean-Baptiste Paquet, Domaine Galus
Costières de Nîmes, Southern Rhone, France
Domaine Galus is a family owned winery. It is run by Fanette Fessy and Jean-Baptiste Paquet, who are husband and wife. Fanette comes from six generations of devoted wine growers. Her father is a renowned wine merchant in Burgundy. Jean-Baptiste grew up working along side his father, Michel Paquet, the owner of Domaine des Valanges in Davayé, Southern Burgundy. After their studies in viticulture and oenology both of them spent some time working in Burgundy and Rhone. Fanette also continued her studies in Australia. In 2002, Fanette and Jean-Baptiste decided to go out on their own and purchase land in the Rhone Valley. They took on a daring challenge to purchase property in the Rhone Valley and keep their wines true to the terroir. The winery’s name, Galus, comes from a Latin word meaning “Gaulle” and “Rooster”. Fanette and Jean-Baptiste choose this name to honor their French heritage and create a winery that is true to the Rhone Valley. The Galus Estate is composed of 14 hectares in Costières de Nîmes, the Southwest region of the Rhone Valley. The estate dates back to Roman times and often you will find the remains of old pottery in the vineyards. All of the wines are 100% Estate grown and hand harvested. Since 2009, all of the wines have followed organic farming practices. The winery is certified ECOCERT.
The Estate is located on the right bank of the Rhone Valley. During the year it is often sunny with dry, hot summers and mild winters, a true Mediterranean climate. The soil is made up of red clay, sand, and large round pebbles. These pebbles absorb the heat during the day which help keep the ground warm in the evenings.
In 2009, we made a commitment to be organic in the vineyards and winery. We believe that it is important to preserve the land and make wines in the most natural way. The winery is currently ECOCERT, an organic certification. In 2015, we planted Grenache Blanc, Clairette, and Roussanne. In 2019 we plan to start making our first white wine, a Rhone Valley white from Costières de Nîmes.
During harvest we hand pick all of our grapes. Afterwards we use a gentle machine to de-stem our grapes. Once we have all the perfect berries, we put them uncrushed into the tanks for the first alcoholic fermentation. It is only after “Remontage” or known as Pump-over that we devat and press the berries. We do this to give color, flavor, tannins and aromas to the wines.
