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Domaine de la Petite Soeur

Kumu Grolleau Gris 2019

Price: $35.95
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Tasting notes

Grolleau Gris is one of the Loire's rarest grapes, and Adrien de Mello uses skin contact to coax out texture and depth that the variety rarely shows in conventional production. The 2019 is a tiny-production wine from a frost-ravaged year, with the concentration and tension that low yields bring to an already lean, mineral grape.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
White PeachGrapefruitWildflowersMineral
  • Style: Dry, light-bodied orange wine; hazy amber-copper; stone fruit and citrus; 11.5% ABV
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Grolleau Gris; biodynamic (Demeter) and organic (AB/Ecocert); schist soils, Saint-Aubin-de-Luigné, Anjou Noir
  • Winemaking: Skin-contact maceration; spontaneous native yeast fermentation; no added sulfites, unfined, unfiltered; Vin de France
  • Serving: Serve lightly chilled at 52-55F; no decant needed
  • Pairing: Smoked salmon, oysters, grilled white fish, goat cheese, asparagus
  • Similar To: For fans of low-alcohol, mineral skin-contact whites who want a rare Loire grape variety

Kumu is a skin-contact wine made from 100% Grolleau Gris grown on schist soils in and around Saint-Aubin-de-Luigné, a village in the Layon valley of Anjou Noir. The 2019 vintage was produced under difficult conditions: a late frost wiped out roughly 50% of Adrien de Mello's crop, making this a very small-production release. The wine is labeled Vin de France, as the skin-contact style falls outside the local AOC framework.

Grolleau Gris is a rare gray-skinned mutation of Grolleau Noir, native to the Loire and grown primarily in Anjou and Touraine. The variety produces wines with moderate acidity, low alcohol, and aromas leaning toward stone fruit and citrus. With skin maceration, the grape develops additional texture and a faint amber-copper hue. Vines at the domaine average 40 to 50 years of age.

In the cellar, Adrien works without additions of any kind: no added sulfites, no fining, no filtration. Fermentation is spontaneous with native yeasts. The wines are vinified and aged in the historic cuverie at Château de la Genaiserie, on the outskirts of the village. Expect a hazy, sunset-toned wine with orchard fruit aromatics, a gently grippy texture, and the mineral edge characteristic of Anjou Noir schist.

The light tannins and moderate acidity make this a natural match for seafood: grilled fish, smoked salmon, oysters, or shrimp with citrus. It also pairs well with fresh goat cheese or asparagus, where its herbal and stone-fruit notes come into focus. Serve lightly chilled at around 52-55F.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Orange Wine
Wine Style:, Light Body
Grapes:, Grolleau Gris
Farming:, Organic and Biodynamic
Vintage:, 2019
Alcohol:, 11.5%
Country:, France
Region:, Loire Valley
Appellation:, Vin de France
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

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If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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Heat/Frost damage

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Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Domaine de la Petite Soeur

Adrien de Mello is originally from Brittany. He began learning winemaking in Quebec in 2003 at Domaine de l'Ile Ronde, near Quebec City, working there until 2006. He returned to France to study viticulture and oenology in Beaune, then worked in the Rhone Valley before stints in South Africa, the United States, and again in Quebec. From around 2010, he spent several years as winemaker at Domaine Duseigneur in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, a biodynamic estate, where he made his first natural wines.

In 2015, he established Domaine de la Petite Soeur in Saint-Aubin-de-Luigné after taking over approximately 3.5 hectares of schist-based vineyard plots from Thomas Carsin of Clos de l'Elu. The vines were already farmed organically when he arrived. He has since obtained both organic (AB, Ecocert) and biodynamic (Demeter) certification. He prepares his own herbal teas and decoctions for vineyard treatments using plants such as nettle, comfrey, yarrow, and buckthorn, and plows between rows with a draft horse named Toscane. The domaine name references the birth of his daughter Louise, the younger sister of his partner's first child.

Vines average 40 to 50 years of age and are planted on schist-rich soils. The domaine grows Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Gamay, including a parcel of Gamay Freaux, a rare teinturier variety. Cellar work is defined by a no-additions philosophy: spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts, no fining, no filtration, and no added sulfites. Wines are vinified in the cuverie of Chateau de la Genaiserie, on the edge of the village. Red grapes are typically fermented as whole clusters.

Wine region

Loire Valley, France

Anjou sits at the western edge of the Loire Valley, where the geology shifts from the pale sedimentary limestones of the Paris Basin to the dark metamorphic schist and slate of the Armorican Massif. This western zone is known locally as Anjou Noir, a reference to the dark hue of its rocks. Saint-Aubin-de-Luigné sits within the Layon valley, a tributary of the Loire, on a band of schist and spilite soils that runs from Faye d'Anjou down to the slopes above the river.

The Anjou appellation encompasses around 30 distinct designations within the Anjou-Saumur sub-region, ranging from dry reds and whites to botrytis-affected sweet wines under appellations such as Coteaux du Layon and Bonnezeaux. The climate is mild and continental with Atlantic influence from the west; the woodlands of Vendee to the southwest moderate harsh ocean winds. Chenin Blanc is the dominant white grape, while Cabernet Franc leads reds. Grolleau and Grolleau Gris are native varieties grown primarily in the Middle Loire, historically used for Rosé d'Anjou; a growing number of natural producers are exploring skin-contact and low-intervention styles with these grapes outside the AOC framework, typically labeled Vin de France.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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