Thollet — Petite Gallée

Patrice Thollet farms the Domaine de la Petite Gallée at Millery, fifteen kilometres from Lyon, in the small appellation of Coteaux du Lyonnais. He works alongside his son Pierre, who studied viticulture in Switzerland. The family has held the property since 1944, when Francis Thollet took on the farming lease at the Petite Gallée; vines planted in 1896 came in later, through Robert Thollet's marriage to Danièle.

The estate runs to thirteen hectares, of which six and a half lie in the Clos de la Petite Gallée around the cellar, planted on stony fluvio-glacial moraine. Arcana Cabinet lists eight wines: in Coteaux du Lyonnais, the Gamay reds La Tour and a Vieilles Vignes, the Chardonnay whites Le Clos and Les Moraines, and an Aligoté; and, under Vin de France, three varieties the appellation rules do not admit: Syrah, Viognier and a Petite Arvine borrowed from the Swiss Valais.

The vines have been certified organic by Ecocert since 2007, and the estate has worked biodynamically since 2012, certified by Biodyvin in 2018. The Gamay is juicy and peppery and takes a light chill; the whites are taut, with citrus and a stony edge from the moraine.