Chateau de Suronde has six hectares planted in the small hillside village of Chaume. The vines, mostly Chenin, age between 15 to 70 years.
Five of these hectares sit on the "Quarts de Chaume" Appellation and the other remaining is in Layon Chaume. All vines are planted on schist and sandstone soils, mixed with deposits of sand, clay, silt and exposed from the southeast to the southwest.
The site is lucky to have been left untouched by synthetic chemicals - no weed killers, no insecticides, just regular plowing and only two methods of treatment: sulfur and Bordeaux mixture (copper and slaked lime).
Throughout the season, normal green canopy work continues, but it’s the sun, the wind and the development of noble rot in the berries that are the most crucial components.
Maturity and concentration signal the start of the harvest, which is done by hand. Sometimes between 2 to 5 passes are necessary, or sometimes even more depending on the year. Here the yields do not exceed 12 hectoliters per hectare (barely a glass of wine per vine)...
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