The heritage of four
generations
of wine-growers
he Domaine de la Tour is the product of a long
tradition of wine-growing and wine- making. It has
been in Chalmeau family for two hundred years.
The domaine was founded by Auguste Chalmeau in 1820
with just half a hectare of land in the village of Chitry-le-Fort.
When his grandson Jacques took over a century later, it
consisted of two hectares growing Aligoté and Sacy grapes.
In 1960 he decided to acquire more vine-growing land in
the Chablis appellation and planted vines in the commune
of Courgis. This added to the domaine 3 ha of premier cru
vines in the climats of Mont-Mains, Côte de Cuissy, and
Côte de Jouans.
When Jacques and his wife Andrée retired in 1992, they
handed the reins to their son-in-law Renato Fabrici.
It was then that the domaine acquired its present name,
"Domaine de la Tour", a reference to the church tower at
Chitry-le-Fort. The domaine's future is now in the safe
hands of Renato and his son Vincent.
Renato Fabrici:
an Italian's passion
for wine
talian by origin, Renato Fabrici, head of the firm and lover
of fine wines, has had charge of the Domaine de la Tour
since 1992.
His love for his vineyards is as deep-rooted now as it ever was.
“Some of our vines are magnificent... little steeply-sloping plots,
the stocks sculpted by age, embodying the quintessence of
the Chardonnay... beautiful when the sunlight catches them...
you can imagine they are secretly working the alchemy which
gives birth to great wines.”
Fabrici's story begins in the little village of Clauzetto in
the Italian Dolomites. At an early age he made two discoveries:
the Ravenna mosaics and the French language. His talents might
have led him to a career in the Venice region but at the age of
14 he left with his parents when they decided to settle in
Paris. Some years later when he had embarked on a career in
the Ministry of Works and Buildings, he met his future wife
Elisabeth, daughter ofJacques Chalmeau. Through her he came
to know the wines of Chablis and the Auxerrois and fell under the spell of the thousand-year-old
vineyards of the historic little commune of
Chitry.
His Italian culture and his epicurean leanings
were reawakened... and that is how,
quite naturally, when Jacques and Andrée
Chalmeau retired a few years later, he took
charge of the domaine.
For Renato Fabrici, « Chablis has become
a legend, and therefore eternal, no doubt
because it was the first wine to establish
itself Europe-wide, seducing crowned
heads and bishops alike... For a vigneron
like me, devoted to my land and to my
wine, no sacrifice is too great to obtain
the wine I dream of. »
