La Petite Empreinte – Delicious Wines

La Petite Empreinte, which translates as ‘The Small Footprint’ is the very new estate of Romain de Moor and his partner Mélissa Bazin.

Mélissa has spent time in the Jura at Domaine Labet and, before that, internships in the Ardèche, where she comes from, with several vignerons including Sylvain Bock, Gérald Oustric and Gilles Azzoni. She also worked with Domaine Bruno Clair.

Romain has also worked in several estates including Jean-François Ganevat and Domaine Lapierre and, of course, with his parents on the family estate before heading to other parts of France.

What a wonderful selection of teachers they both have had! They have also both had formal training as part of their ‘apprenticeship’ prior to embarking on the La Petite Empreinte project from 2020.  We are excited to be working with them and grateful to have made the connection via Romain’s parents.

Their La Petite Empreinte micro-estate consisted originally of less than a hectare of vines in Saint-Bris-le-Vineux and Vincelottes, both communes in the Yonne department in the north of Burgundy. They have slowly added to it and planted new vines but it is still tiny. They currently have Pinot Noir, Gamay, and Sauvignon Blanc vines but the two wines we have for our first offering are both made from 100% Pinot Noir. The work organically in their vines, which are in clay and limestone soils, and are part-way through the process of conversion to achieve organic certification.

In the cellar they ferment their wines naturally and neither of these wines have any additions. They also do no filtration or fining. The wines are very pure and very good.

If you would like to learn more about their work you can follow their Instagram account here.  They have two very young children which has slowed down their Instagram posting but there is still lots to discover about their work in their vineyards and cellar.

La Petite Empreinte Côteaux Bourguignons Mas à Tierra (Pinot Noir)

Vintage 2023

The name, Más a Tierra, is inspired by the name of the island where the real Robinson Crusoe ran aground and is a recognition of the plot’s isolation.

In 2023, Romain and Mélissa had a very good harvest which challenged the available tank space for macerating. As a result they made one direct press, the juice from which was added to the macerating whole bunches.

The maceration was for about 21 days with 1 or 2 punchdowns. After pressing, the wine was aged for a year in barrels of varying sizes between 228 and 700 litres, without racking. No added sulphites for this wine.

At a recent tasting everyone thought that this was a delightful wine which shows off the potential of the Pinot Noir grape grown in the soil of this region.

RRP: $104

Vintage 2024

In 2024 the Más a Tierra plot was the only one with enough grapes to make a red cuvée. It is in the region where the Côteaux Bourguignons appellation can be used if the way in which the wine was made conforms with the appellation rules. There was no Tapis Rouge or Gamay.

Despite the vicissitudes of the vintage the wine is gorgeous – light in the mouth and highly perfumed. The harvest on 20 September was later than earlier vintages allowing for the development of more phenolic ripeness. The whole bunches were macerated for 28 days before pressing and aging in barrels. It was bottled in October 2025. No added sulphites.

RRP: $112

La Petite Empreinte Saint-Bris Persévérance et Patience 2022

The harvest from their two parcels of Sauvignon Blanc, 75% of the grapes were directly pressed and the remainder were briefly macerated. The two portions were aged separately in 228 and 500 litre barrels before being assembled for some time prior to bottling in January 2025. 

They originally called this cuvée, when it had one year of aging in barrel, Persévérance. However, from the beginning they always wanted to do longer aging of their Sauvignon Blanc. (That decision is not so surprising knowing that both Romain and Mélissa did much of their apprenticeships in the Jura. Romain worked with Ganevat and Mélissa with Labet.).

This was the first wine where they achieved that. It was aged for over two years before it was bottled. Because of that, they decided to change the name to Persévérance et Patience to recognise this change had made a different wine.

There are other vintages to come (up to 2026 barring weather misfortunes in the next few weeks, after which it will end). We’re predicting this 2022 vintage will be the most extraordinary of them though, a compelling shooting star. It has complexity, length and tension, all of which make it a very gastronomic wine, and unlike Mas à Tierra really insists that you take time to consider every mouthful. It has no added sulphites.

RRP: $167

La Petite Empreinte Bourgogne Côte d’Auxerre Tapis Rouge 2023

Planted in 1978, these older vines are situated in Saint-Bris at the top of a south-facing Portlandian limestone plateau. The vines are currently in conversion to organics.

A brief word about the Saint-Bris commune where these vines grow and the Côte d’Auxerre appellation is one that can be applied to Pinot Noir grown in the area.

There are a number of appellations that could be used here for red grapes. These are Côteaux Bourguignons and Côte d’Auxerre for Pinot Noir and Saint-Bris for white wines made from Sauvignon Blanc (the only place in Burgundy where this grape variety is permitted).

This La Petite Empreinte wine was made using the vinification they favour for their red wines it had 30 days of maceration of whole bunches with some punch downs.

After pressing it was aged for 11 months in barrels of varying sizes (228-700 litres) without racking. On the surface it is pretty and lithe but underneath there is structure and complexity. No added sulphites. 13% ABV

RRP: $93 (SOLD OUT)

La Petite Empreinte Arrosé 2023

This is the delicious, summery rosé from Mélissa and Romain of La Petite Empreinte that we are looking forward to releasing soon.

This cuveé has been made from grapes picked from their plot of land in the Sain-Bris Le Vineux commune which is an interesting area as it is the one spot in Burgundy where it is possible to plant Sauvignon Blanc and use the Saint-Bris appellation.

However this wine is made from Burgundian favourite, Pinot Noir which is from their plot which is planted on a plateau where the rocks are Portlandian limestone. The vines were originally planted in 1978, so are around 45 years old – a perfect age for Pinot Noir vines. The vines are currently in conversion to organic.

The grapes were harvested manually and sorted prior to being slowly direct pressed to create some colour at the end of the press. Fermentation, of course, only with the indigenous yeast and then 3 months in wooden barrels without racking.

It was bottled in December, 2023 without added sulphites. The footprints on the label are those of their daughter Isis, who was born during the 2023 harvest.

RRP: $87 (SOLD OUT)

You can read about the Saint-Bris appellation which permits the use of Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Gris within the Burgundy region in our Wine Talk newsletter number 109 here.

La Petite Empreinte Gamay 2023 Magnum

Mélissa and Romain have a tiny plot of Gamay (just 0.1 of a hectare) on a Kimmeridgian limestone ridge in the commune of Vincelottes, which is just south of Saint-Bris.

For this La Petite Empreinte wine, whole bunches are macerated for about 2 weeks with no attempt at heavy extraction. After pressing, the wine was aged in a single barrel for a year prior to bottling.

It was only produced in Magnum. It is a wine made with drinkability in mind.

As a reminder, the Coteaux Bourguignons is a Burgundy-wide appellation running from the bottom of Beaujolais in the south to the northern reaches of Burgundy around Chablis and Saint Bris (where the grapes for this wine come from)!

RRP: $238 for Magnum (Sold Out)