About Chateau des Rontets

The family-run Château des Rontets sits atop a hill overlooking the town of Fuissé. It is here, from old vines, that they make single-parcel Pouilly-Fuissé cuvées defined by minerality and aromatic complexity.

The Rontets estate was established in 1819 by an abbot named Claude Nonain. In 1850 Francois Varambon purchased the land, and the Gazeau-Varambon family has tended to the 6.5-hectare property ever since. Passed down for generations, the vineyards have been under the meticulous care of Francois’ great-grandaughter, Claire Gazeau, and her husband, Fabio Montrasi, since 1995.

The Estate’s vines, some dating as far back as 1910, surround the picturesque Chateau. The vines are rooted in well-draining soils at an elevation of 350 meters, and with ideal North and South-facing vineyards, they experience excellent sun exposure and diurnal temperature swings. Outside of their clos, Rontets own a half-hectare of land in the Pierrefolle climat, and another half-hectare in Saint-Amour’s Cote de Besset, where the family harvest their Gamay.

Claire Gazeau spent her childhood summers working these very vines, and when she took over the property, she began implementing organic and biodynamic farming practices, eventually becoming ECOCERT certified in 2005. The team avoids chemicals and machine intervention, and goes as far as plowing the land with horses. This vision extends into the cellar as well, where they adopted a minimal intervention philosophy, including long, native-yeast fermentations for nuanced aromas, and lees aging for texture. The result is singular and special Chardonnays and Gamays.