The lieu-dit of Terres Rouges can be found on a shelf located on the lower slopes of the Premier Cru vignoble of Dizy where Jacquesson farms more than 6 hectares, half of them planted to Pinot Noir, half to Pinot Meunier. Terres Rouges, so called for its reddish-brown calcareous soil lying on chalky silt deposits, has deep, lightly stony and well drained terrain which benefits from good hydrous reserves. The vine takes root easily, and can find water and minerals deep in the sub-soil. 2003 will remain long in the memory because of its catastrophic weather pattern: hard winter frosts reaching –15° C, destroying some vines, severe spring frosts going as low as – 8°C to –10°C, annihilating almost half of the potential crop between 8th and 11th April, hailstorms in June and, of course, the heat wave of July and August, which scorched many grapes. We began picking on 25th August, the earliest date on record, and finished on 4th September, despite a 36-hour break due to a violent storm.
Despite a large decrease in volume in this parcel of around 60% compared to a normal year, we decided to benefit from the very unusual character of the vintage to produce a skin contact rosé, our only vintage wine in 2003. We used the grapes from two parcels of Terres Rouges: one located at the south east, planted to Pinot Meunier in 1971, and one located at the north west, planted in 1993 to Pinot Noir. Picking took place on 26th August, and we obtained superbly ripe fruit, with absolutely no botrytis. After de-stemming, the maceration of the fruit (83% Pinot Meunier, 17% Pinot Noir) lasted for barely 12 hours before the saignée. The juice was deeply coloured and the must had 11.1 deg. of potential alcohol and an acid content of 5.4 gr/l.
Terres Rouges Rosé was vinified in oak casks and bottled on 13th May 2004.