Chenin blanc & Melon Bourgogne Flashcards
Domaine Huet Clos Du Bourg
It is also the French wine region that got me hooked on Chenin Blanc, partly due to the exciting wines coming from Domaine Huet.
Founded in 1928, Domaine Huet has won a reputation for outstanding, age-worthy Chenin Blanc. Chenin Blanc has been grown in the Vouvray region for many centuries, which makes the Huet estate relatively young - but the same cannot be said for the vines as on average around 50% of the Huet vines are between 30 and 50 years old. Amongst the Huet vineyards is Clos due Bourg, a 6 ha area near the church in Vouvray, surrounded by stone walls and with relatively thin soil on limestone.
Considering the reputation these wines have for being ageworthy I may have opened my bottle too soon, but after having suffered through too many mediocre pub Chenin Blancs in London I just had to taste the real thing again. The Huet reminded me of the sea, with a smell of ocean and seaweed spiced with fresh herbs (including mint), fennel candy, a pleasant sourness and - at first more prominent - a citrus and yeast layer that was almost like champagne. In the longer run the sharp, fresh herbal minerality won the contest though, also on the tongue. Zingy, grapefruit bitterness, crunchy mineral, vegetable aromas and a neat balance between a buttery, saucy creaminess with a hint of vanilla and the fresh acidity. Compared to previous Huets my bottle of 2011 lacked some of the depth, but that should only be seen as relative to some of the best Chenin Blancs I have ever encountered. It did have a great, lasting finish.
Savennieres
Savennières wine is produced around Savennières in Loire Valley wine region, and the production region is situated on the north bank of the Loire River, in the Anjou-Saumur subregion.[1] Savennières is a white wine produced from the grape variety Chenin blanc, and is almost always dry.
Chateau de l’eperonniere
La robe de couleur jaune or, est le reflet de la surmaturité du cépage Chenin.
Le nez s’exprime avec force sur des arômes de fruits blancs et jaunes compotés (abricots, pêches…), de fruits exotiques
et sur certains millésimes d’épices (cannelle, muscade) et de pâtes de fruits de coings.
En bouche, l’attaque est ronde, veloutée et suave avec les mêmes arômes dominés par la fraîcheur des fruits exotiques
(mangues, litchis), confortée par une note confits de coings et une touche d’amertume données par le Botrytis
chateau d’epire
Clear, bright stone fruit and pear aromas jump out at first, without some of the funkier notes some Savennieres can display. There is a touch of the salty seashell note behind the fruit, somewhat similar to Muscadet, but always well behind the fruit on the nose. On the palate the fruit is almost crystalline, racy and bright with very lean lime and melon rind texture at first that gains the white fruits found in the nose as it opens up slowly. A wine that you would probably want to either plan to drink over two or more days or decant, because it does take some time to get to the complex fruit character that exists underneath. This is the ‘basic’ bottling from the estate, built to be bright and easy to enjoy during its relative youth; there is also a ‘Cuvee Speciale’ bottling we also got in (but not open for tasting at this time) that is created for Kermit Lynch, aged in old chestnut barrels and bottled unfiltered that is built for the long term, so make sure you grab the right one for your purposes. -f
Division ‘L’Isle Verte’
The Yakima Valley is no stranger to warmth and fortunately for us, our old vine Chenin Blanc vines at Willard Farms have over 35 years of root development at the highest elevation portions of the region to help insulate the vines from year to year climate variation. We love this particular site, originally planted in the late 70s, as it’s quite unique being one of the last old vine Chenin Blanc sites around and is farmed by an excellent multigenerational farming family with deep understanding of the soils and region. The vines are planted on soils formed from volcanic miocene uplift against basalt bedrock with the primary top soil being made up of quartz and lime- slilica, overlaid with the mixed sedimentary runoff of Missoula floods that is typical of the area.
We believe the best wines will be made by picking before overly ripe characteristics dominate the wine and balance and finesse suffer. Therefore, like in the some of the best domaines of the Loire Valley, we completed two pass picking to pick both vibrant and lively early acid driven grapes and more fruit concentrated and complex flavored later picked grapes. The first pass was completed on September 22nd, with fruit quality that was very healthy and with some variability in ripeness. The second picking completed on October 5th all showed fruit quality that was very healthy and quite ripe with some rows with early Noble Rot (we separated that component for a separate ferment). We created a pied de cuve (early native ferment) with a small amount of grapes to build a strong yeast population from the native flora, which was inoculated after settling into one puncheon, 4 neutral white Burgundy barrels and 2 stainless barrels. The barrel ferment took off quickly and we moved the barrels into a cool area where the ferment lasted until mid to late January, depending on the barrel. We stopped 2 barrels from fully finishing the primary ferment to provide natural balance with the wine’s natural vibrant acidity.
The result of our second Chenin Blanc was a nicely balanced and incredibly dense fruit core wine with more mid palate wine than we typically taste in whites. We are reminded of Vouvray wines from warmer years with aromatics that range from Granny smith nose, Creme caramel and ripe stone fruit. The palate is bright and mineral rich with slate, white plum flower and apple. The wine is full to medium bodied and very vibrant (especially for the vintage), complex and somewhat fruit loaded. This is a wine is drinking very well at the moment in it’s early youth, but because of it’s fairly robust acidity, will likely cellar for several years.
Les Clissage d’or sur lie
THE VINEYARD
Quality and respect of nature have always been the philosophy of Vignobles Guy Saget. Brought up in the vineyards, the Saget brothers; Jean-Louis and Christian, learned from a very young age to love and respect the soil. Vignobles Guy Saget sources two-thirds of the production in the Loire Valley from their estates with the remainder from long-term relationships with fam- ilies of vine growers. In 1995, Jean-Louis Saget purchased the Loiret Frères Company located in Le Pallet, in the heart of the Muscadet Sèvre & Maine AC. Thanks to this acquisition, Vignobles Guy Saget developed strong relationships with many vine growers in this area. The Muscadet de Sèvre & Maine sur Lie “Les Cilssages d’Or is the result of the combination between the local people’s passion for their vines and the experience and know how of our winemaker, Bruno Mineur.
HARVEST & AGEING
Grapes are mechanically harvested in the middle of September. After pressing the grapes, the must is clarified for 48 hours. Once decanted, wine ferments in epoxy coated tanks between 15/20°C. Special Yeasts are added, mostly FTH to develop the natural characteristics of the grape variety. After the alcoholic fermentation, wine stays on its lees which are composed of 95% dead yeast. Wine will never be racked until bottling which provide a high concentration of natural CO2 (1600 mg/L). The wine is bottled in March and sold immediately to capture its freshness.
WINEMAKER’S NOTES
The Muscadet de Sèvre & Maine sur Lie Les Clissages d’Or is a crystal-clear wine with golden straw color and green gleams.
Very elegant nose with a mix of white fruits and flowers. After a really mineral and acidic attack the wine fills the mouth with pear and with peach aromas.
