Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Don+Melissa, Jay, Jayson, Jeff, Lisa, Seth, Victor
Don and Jeff pour. We put our heads together privately the week before to vet our themes. I'm going to pour an older vertical and Don is going to pour mostly young wines in a new category, so we'll serve mine first and then his, so people can keep their palates in good shape.
Wines are served blind, of course, but, dear reader, I'll let you in on the secrets.
---
Jeff's wines, all dry whites, with their own themes
The Main Theme, referring to an old family business, perhaps: "My uncle sold cheap and delicious elephant tongues."
The first four wines:
Blue: Dom. de la Pepiere 2012 Muscadet "Clos des Briords", Cuvee VV - 12%
Pink: Dom. de la Pepiere 2013 Muscadet "Clos des Briords", Cuvee VV - 12%
Green: Dom. de la Pepiere 2014 Muscadet "Clos des Briords", Cuvee VV - 12%
Yellow: Dom. de la Pepiere 2015 Muscadet "Clos des Briords", Cuvee VV - 12%
The group drank from the little bottles, of course, while I drank from the leftovers at the bottom of the 750s. Those had been stoppered/fridged but got plenty-plenty of air. I think that was a confound because the notes varied quite a bit; the ones open all day showed better.
Blue -
Jeff: elegant, minerality delicately suffused with saffron, acids still juicy but no razors left
Group: "very dry", "very acidic", "this is the one I like best" -Melissa, "reminds me of Chablis (but it isn't)" -Victor
Day 5: (from my little bottles which are still full) I'm with Victor on this one: it's Chablis-like, yellow fruit surrounded by seashells and acidity
Pink -
Jeff: somewhat anonymous, faded a little all the way round
Group: "a little sour" -Jay, "noticeable tangy-ness but this is the riper one" -Victor, "lean" -Jayson
Day 5: tighter, acids strong enough to be slightly sour, but also fresher if a little simpler, still mouth-filling
It took the group a little while to converge on a guess of Muscadet, very soon thereafter that we're in a vertical of some kind, and a very long time to settle on Briords. They tried every other bottling... they only guessed Briords because Jay knows I buy it. Jayson successfully guesses the vintage of Blue (only).
Green -
Jeff: rather like Blue, lip-smacking good, not quite as structured as Blue
Group: "has that Muscadetty funk" -Jayson, "and a little cheese" -Victor, "a lot on the palate" -Jay, "I like Green very much" -Victor
Day 5: this is definitely a step behind: older, funkier, I think there's even a touch of rot; so the joke goes, it's got character
Yellow -
Jeff: very youthful still, powerful thrust and verve, nicely ripe, just fine to drink now or keep some more
Group: "I like Yellow" -Jayson, "almost too tart" -Don, a lot of intensity with really lingering acidity
Day 5: still pretty vivid, fresh and vigorous, grapefruity, we'll have to wait some more for secondary development
Most people preferred Pink and Yellow. I preferred Blue but Yellow is also good. Unfortunately for a four-bottle vertical our tasting format is very structured towards having two wines at a time, and I think a little bit of impact was lost. C'est la vie.
I hope folks have kept some wine to try again later. I drank the remnants, a couple days later yet, with a shrimp quiche and they picked up the briny quality just fine.
Now, the last wine: The Ringer's Theme, provided by the Japanese distributor, perhaps:
Rivers of moonlight
Over rocky alcoves,
Nightingales trill
Innumerable notes.
Actually, the poem was provided by a generative AI of my acquaintance, after rather a lot of prompting.
Fuchsia: Dom. Tessier 2017 Cour-Cheverny "La Porte Doree" - 14%
It's another Loire wine but no one mistakes it for Muscadet. My ringer-picking skills need some work.
Fuchsia - "natural wine crones!" -Jayson (nope, no idea what that meant), "apple-y" -Victor, which has people a little worried until the reveal, as that is a normal part of its flavor profile, after exhausting all the usual suspects(!) Jayson guesses the wine because he and I first tasted it together at Racines NY
Day 5: if there are apples here they are Granny Smiths, more white-fruit than the Muscadets but also a bigger palate, big wine, this can stand up to some serious food at the table
---
Don's wines, all dry whites
Welcome to 'Anjou Noir'. This style of wine was criticized by Bettane in 2014 and that was all the inspiration anyone needed. Since then, vigneron/nes have been figuring out how to get good dry wines from these terroirs that have been producing rich and/or sweet wines. The main principle seems to be to pick early, as this means less alcohol, less over-ripeness, and less chance of botrytis. Don says the makers are dialing it in. Ba voyons.
The first four wines:
#2: Dom. Thibaud Boudignon 2020 AOC Savennieres "Clos de la Hutte" - 12.5%
#1: Dom. aux Moines 2019 AOC Savennieres "Roche aux Moines" - 13.5%
#3: Ch. de Plaisance 2020 AOC Anjou "La Grande Piece" - but it's really just dry Coteaux du Layon 1er "Chaume", 14%
#4: Dom. Belargus 2018 AOC Anjou "Roueres" - but it's really just dry Quarts du Chaume GC, 14.5%
Yes, we served #2 first because Don, at the last moment, decided to put the wines in alcohol order.
#2 - "chenin on schist" -Jeff (which may not have been entirely fair because I knew the theme but it really is obvious on this one), long finish, Don says the maker uses 30% oak but we can't taste it at all, Jayson guesses that it is Savennieres (yes)
Day 5: beautiful, white flowers, a spritz of lemon, a faint hint of basil, acidity good enough, finish still long
#1 - "sulfur" -Jeff, "caraway" -Victor, Jayson smells oak but this time it's alleles: the wine is raised 70% in steel and the rest in old casks, also AOC Savennieres but you'd never know it, I have trouble getting past the burnt matchstick smell
Day 5: no more sulfur smell though it still has a lingering hint of something bitter but now more roasty than chemical, has resisted oxidizing very well (surprise!), a bit pinched flavors though
#3 - "very nice, more delicate than the previous, with a crystalline structure" -Jay, this does have a lively palate and great complexity, alas also a little bit of showy sulfur and 14% alcohol, Jayson eventually pegs the region as Coteaux du Layon
Day 5: a vivid apricotty nose, with the same flavor on the palate, good and juicy in the mouth, really enticing now
#4 - "these are wines of acidity but also higher alcohol" -Jayson, indeed this one has a nose full of flowers but the palate is marred by alcoholic bitterness
Day 5: the material has stepped forward, the bitterness is subsumed, a whole fruit-basket of flavors, complex, juicy wine makes my salivary glands run, excellent
The last two wines are from near (#3) and actually in (#4) Quarts du Chaume. See map.
The wines were very interesting. All needed time to come into balance. Several suffered from alcoholism... I wonder how much earlier can they pick? The makers have captured bouquet and palate presence, for sure, but the alcohol level needs a guard-rail of some kind.
Don also mentioned that some of these are pricey: two of the wines list for $100 (he didn't pay that) and some makers set their prices at triple that.
Finally, a wine we all know and love:
#5: Nicolas Joly 1996 AOC Savennieres "Clos de la Coulee de Serrant" - 14%
#5 - rich and glyceral chenin, bit of fennel seed and sugar and alcohol (a real problem in these wines even then)
Day 5: golden fruit and blanched almonds, maybe a hit of fennel dust, the finish is so long
I drank the remnants of them all with a muffeletta sandwich; the Savennieres did fine but the C/QdC were kinda strong even against a salami sandwich heaped with pickled vegetables.
Don wraps up with The Big Question: Will any of these young wines turn into a Coulee de Serrant in its time?
---
Selected descriptions of the wines from the makers, schnooks, critics (where need be):
Briords '12 - These notes are from Remi Branger, Marc Ollivier's partner at Domaine de la Pepiere; "The cuvee Clos des Briords was harvested the 24th of September. In 2012 we lost 50% of the harvest due to cold temperatures during the flowering. Then the month of July was a bit rainy, but we had magnificent weather during the month of August, warm temperatures during the day and cool temperatures at night, ideal conditions for a long and slow maturation of the grapes. For the entire harvest, and particularly for the Clos des Briords, we brought in grapes with very beautiful balance (a very beautiful acidity, with a perfect richness in sugar) explained by the small quantity of grapes and the slow maturation. We know that the cuvee Clos des Briords 2012 is today one of the most beautiful examples of this wine since the creation of the Domaine and we know that the wine will evolve extremely well over time."
Briords '13 - According to Marc: "2013, it's a classic vintage with very good acidity, for me similar to 2004, a little less rich than 2012, but quite invigorating."
Briords '14 - From the Domaine: "The Spring was very classic, not too cold, not too warm, and wet as usual. The flowering went well which permitted a nice quantity and quality of grapes. The month of July was sunny but August began like a poor autumn, cold and humid. Late in August we really didn't know what would happen as the risk of rot was very high. Then, after a last big storm around August 24th, dry, warm and sunny weather began which lasted until October. The grapes matured and were of excellent quality with both high sugar and high acidity! We picked the Briords parcel on Monday Sept 15th and Tuesday the 16th in the early part of the harvest. The fermentations went well, lasting approximately a month and a half. I would say that it's a vintage representing what we like in Briords: citrusy vivacity, scintillating material and salinity in the finish."
Briords '15 - In the words of Remi Branger: "For a description of the 2015 vintage, we had a quite beautiful growing season and dry weather in August (the grapes were lacking a bit of water), then at the end of August we had rain, but a bit too much, and this swelled the grapes. Fortunately the grapes stayed healthy and the harvest was beautiful, on September 10th, with good acidity, but a bit less concentration than in 2014. The 2015 Briords has developed well - personally, I find it quite fine and precise."
Tessier '17 - "La Porte Doree" is from 40 to 90 year-old Romorantin vines grown on clay soils with limestone bedrock. The juice undergoes a long, slow alcoholic fermentation and malolactic fermentation, and the wine ages in old foudres and barriques. Minimal SO2 is added before bottling. The domaine says: "We did not expect such a long and strong episode of frost at the end of April.[Describes two frosts, a week apart.] Plots protected by anti-freeze towers do better (around 5ha). The rest is 80 to 90% destroyed. It is all the more infuriating that, following this frost, the climatic conditions until the harvest are rather favorable. In the spared vines, the bunches came out generously, flowering was satisfactory and, with a fine, hot, dry summer, disease pressure was low. The year is starting early. The harvest took place in excellent conditions from September 6 to 22. The grapes are healthy and as is often the case in frost years, there are differences in maturity between the grapes of several generations. The vinification is taking place without any particular problems and the finished wines are frank, fresher than the 2016s."
Th. Boudignon '20 - Background: Thibaud learned his craft with stints at Philippe Charlopin in Gevrey-Chambertin, Ch“teau Lafite-Rothschild and Ch“teau Olivier in Bordeaux, and also some time in Australia. In the late 2000s, he was hired by Savennieres producer Ch“teau Soucherie. He began making wines under his own name in 2009 and now has 7 hectares under his control.
aux Moines '19 - The vineyards stand next to the famed 'Coulee de Serrant' on South-West facing hillsides of predominately schist soils. The Wine Doctor (03/22) says: "This vintage the crop came in at 21 hl/ha, the juice vinified 95% in barrels and 5% in cuves. The nose is very finely polished and crystalline, with a smoky and reductive edge, with enticing scents of white peach and freesias. The palate has a delicious harmony and a vinous presence, supple and textured, sinewy and complete, with notes of orange peel, chamomile, and honeysuckle. This is all laid out on a frame of charged minerality and acidity. A wine with sweet energy and great length, this can only be described as fantastic."
Plaisance '20 - Vinous (06/22) says: "A relatively new winery on everyone's radar, Ch“teau de Plaisance is run by the switched-on, amiable Vanessa Cherruau. Co-owner and winemaker of the estate, she moved with her family to Angers at age 17. After trying her hand at a career in journalism, she fell in love with wine. With an investor, Cherruau purchased this biodynamic estate in the Chaume appellation. The area has historically been known for its sweet whites, but Cherruau is one of an increasing number of growers producing dry wine on the Chaume hill. She'll often be seen sporting her 'Chaume Must Go On' t-shirts. From her first vintage, 2019, the wines show purity and clarity. There's intensity and balance across the range from the Anjou Blanc to the powerful, sophisticated Zerzilles cuvee."
Belargus '18 - European Cellars, the importer, says: Domaine Belargus owns 2.96-hectares of vines in this eastern and southeastern-facing lieu-dit of Roueres and makes two cuvees from this site, a dry wine bearing the Anjou appellation and a late harvest wine labeled Quarts de Chaume. This puddingstone terroir, a natural pebbly conglomerate, is notable for retaining heat and radiating it back into the vineyard well into the evening. ... Domaine Belargus was created in 2018 after Jo Pithon sold his estate to Ivan Massonnat. Though born in the Savoie, Ivan is a passionate wine enthusiast with family roots in Chinon. He has long believed in Chenin Blanc’s potential for diverse terroir expression equal to Pinot Noir in Burgundy. Now totaling 24 hectares, Ivan has assembled a collection of parcels and monopoles in the Anjou Noir the geologically complex and ancient volcanic vineyard lands that stretch from Savennieres in the northwest to Bonnezeaux in the southeast. The reputation of this region was established by religious orders, which planted these vineyards in the 11th century, and the royal courts across Europe that served these wines until phylloxera devasted the region in the late 19th century. The famous hillside of Chaume was replanted in the early 20th century and was awarded the only 1er (Chaume 1er cru) and Grand Cru (Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru) in the Loire Valley. By the 1970s however, industrial farming and shortcuts in the cellar seemed to have irrevocably tarnished the reputation of Quarts de Chaume, Chaume, and Chenin from the Anjou. But starting in the 1980s a new generation of vignerons began to gradually chart a new and promising future for the region, among whom was Jo Pithon who rediscovered and rejuvenated the dramatic and lost terroir of Coteau des Treilles the "Côte Rotie" of the Layon Valley. With Ivan Massonnat stepping in to carry on Jo’s efforts, the future of wines in the Anjou looks more promising than ever. ... With a team that includes winemaker Adrien Moreau, vineyard manager Amaury Chartier, and consultants Jo Pithon and Guy Bossard, Ivan has created a collection of wines that not only reflect the future of Anjou but he has revived the reputation of Coteaux du Layon and Chaume. To achieve this, Domaine de Belargus is farmed organically and is in conversion to biodynamics. All the fruit is picked by hand and frequently in several passes through the vines. Selection is strict, and fermentations are long and spontaneous. Wines are bottled not by the calendar but by how they taste, and they are released only when they are ready.
Don and Jeff pour. We put our heads together privately the week before to vet our themes. I'm going to pour an older vertical and Don is going to pour mostly young wines in a new category, so we'll serve mine first and then his, so people can keep their palates in good shape.
Wines are served blind, of course, but, dear reader, I'll let you in on the secrets.
---
Jeff's wines, all dry whites, with their own themes
The Main Theme, referring to an old family business, perhaps: "My uncle sold cheap and delicious elephant tongues."
The first four wines:
Blue: Dom. de la Pepiere 2012 Muscadet "Clos des Briords", Cuvee VV - 12%
Pink: Dom. de la Pepiere 2013 Muscadet "Clos des Briords", Cuvee VV - 12%
Green: Dom. de la Pepiere 2014 Muscadet "Clos des Briords", Cuvee VV - 12%
Yellow: Dom. de la Pepiere 2015 Muscadet "Clos des Briords", Cuvee VV - 12%
The group drank from the little bottles, of course, while I drank from the leftovers at the bottom of the 750s. Those had been stoppered/fridged but got plenty-plenty of air. I think that was a confound because the notes varied quite a bit; the ones open all day showed better.
Blue -
Jeff: elegant, minerality delicately suffused with saffron, acids still juicy but no razors left
Group: "very dry", "very acidic", "this is the one I like best" -Melissa, "reminds me of Chablis (but it isn't)" -Victor
Day 5: (from my little bottles which are still full) I'm with Victor on this one: it's Chablis-like, yellow fruit surrounded by seashells and acidity
Pink -
Jeff: somewhat anonymous, faded a little all the way round
Group: "a little sour" -Jay, "noticeable tangy-ness but this is the riper one" -Victor, "lean" -Jayson
Day 5: tighter, acids strong enough to be slightly sour, but also fresher if a little simpler, still mouth-filling
It took the group a little while to converge on a guess of Muscadet, very soon thereafter that we're in a vertical of some kind, and a very long time to settle on Briords. They tried every other bottling... they only guessed Briords because Jay knows I buy it. Jayson successfully guesses the vintage of Blue (only).
Green -
Jeff: rather like Blue, lip-smacking good, not quite as structured as Blue
Group: "has that Muscadetty funk" -Jayson, "and a little cheese" -Victor, "a lot on the palate" -Jay, "I like Green very much" -Victor
Day 5: this is definitely a step behind: older, funkier, I think there's even a touch of rot; so the joke goes, it's got character
Yellow -
Jeff: very youthful still, powerful thrust and verve, nicely ripe, just fine to drink now or keep some more
Group: "I like Yellow" -Jayson, "almost too tart" -Don, a lot of intensity with really lingering acidity
Day 5: still pretty vivid, fresh and vigorous, grapefruity, we'll have to wait some more for secondary development
Most people preferred Pink and Yellow. I preferred Blue but Yellow is also good. Unfortunately for a four-bottle vertical our tasting format is very structured towards having two wines at a time, and I think a little bit of impact was lost. C'est la vie.
I hope folks have kept some wine to try again later. I drank the remnants, a couple days later yet, with a shrimp quiche and they picked up the briny quality just fine.
Now, the last wine: The Ringer's Theme, provided by the Japanese distributor, perhaps:
Rivers of moonlight
Over rocky alcoves,
Nightingales trill
Innumerable notes.
Actually, the poem was provided by a generative AI of my acquaintance, after rather a lot of prompting.
Fuchsia: Dom. Tessier 2017 Cour-Cheverny "La Porte Doree" - 14%
It's another Loire wine but no one mistakes it for Muscadet. My ringer-picking skills need some work.
Fuchsia - "natural wine crones!" -Jayson (nope, no idea what that meant), "apple-y" -Victor, which has people a little worried until the reveal, as that is a normal part of its flavor profile, after exhausting all the usual suspects(!) Jayson guesses the wine because he and I first tasted it together at Racines NY
Day 5: if there are apples here they are Granny Smiths, more white-fruit than the Muscadets but also a bigger palate, big wine, this can stand up to some serious food at the table
---
Don's wines, all dry whites
Welcome to 'Anjou Noir'. This style of wine was criticized by Bettane in 2014 and that was all the inspiration anyone needed. Since then, vigneron/nes have been figuring out how to get good dry wines from these terroirs that have been producing rich and/or sweet wines. The main principle seems to be to pick early, as this means less alcohol, less over-ripeness, and less chance of botrytis. Don says the makers are dialing it in. Ba voyons.
The first four wines:
#2: Dom. Thibaud Boudignon 2020 AOC Savennieres "Clos de la Hutte" - 12.5%
#1: Dom. aux Moines 2019 AOC Savennieres "Roche aux Moines" - 13.5%
#3: Ch. de Plaisance 2020 AOC Anjou "La Grande Piece" - but it's really just dry Coteaux du Layon 1er "Chaume", 14%
#4: Dom. Belargus 2018 AOC Anjou "Roueres" - but it's really just dry Quarts du Chaume GC, 14.5%
Yes, we served #2 first because Don, at the last moment, decided to put the wines in alcohol order.
#2 - "chenin on schist" -Jeff (which may not have been entirely fair because I knew the theme but it really is obvious on this one), long finish, Don says the maker uses 30% oak but we can't taste it at all, Jayson guesses that it is Savennieres (yes)
Day 5: beautiful, white flowers, a spritz of lemon, a faint hint of basil, acidity good enough, finish still long
#1 - "sulfur" -Jeff, "caraway" -Victor, Jayson smells oak but this time it's alleles: the wine is raised 70% in steel and the rest in old casks, also AOC Savennieres but you'd never know it, I have trouble getting past the burnt matchstick smell
Day 5: no more sulfur smell though it still has a lingering hint of something bitter but now more roasty than chemical, has resisted oxidizing very well (surprise!), a bit pinched flavors though
#3 - "very nice, more delicate than the previous, with a crystalline structure" -Jay, this does have a lively palate and great complexity, alas also a little bit of showy sulfur and 14% alcohol, Jayson eventually pegs the region as Coteaux du Layon
Day 5: a vivid apricotty nose, with the same flavor on the palate, good and juicy in the mouth, really enticing now
#4 - "these are wines of acidity but also higher alcohol" -Jayson, indeed this one has a nose full of flowers but the palate is marred by alcoholic bitterness
Day 5: the material has stepped forward, the bitterness is subsumed, a whole fruit-basket of flavors, complex, juicy wine makes my salivary glands run, excellent
The last two wines are from near (#3) and actually in (#4) Quarts du Chaume. See map.
The wines were very interesting. All needed time to come into balance. Several suffered from alcoholism... I wonder how much earlier can they pick? The makers have captured bouquet and palate presence, for sure, but the alcohol level needs a guard-rail of some kind.
Don also mentioned that some of these are pricey: two of the wines list for $100 (he didn't pay that) and some makers set their prices at triple that.
Finally, a wine we all know and love:
#5: Nicolas Joly 1996 AOC Savennieres "Clos de la Coulee de Serrant" - 14%
#5 - rich and glyceral chenin, bit of fennel seed and sugar and alcohol (a real problem in these wines even then)
Day 5: golden fruit and blanched almonds, maybe a hit of fennel dust, the finish is so long
I drank the remnants of them all with a muffeletta sandwich; the Savennieres did fine but the C/QdC were kinda strong even against a salami sandwich heaped with pickled vegetables.
Don wraps up with The Big Question: Will any of these young wines turn into a Coulee de Serrant in its time?
---
Selected descriptions of the wines from the makers, schnooks, critics (where need be):
Briords '12 - These notes are from Remi Branger, Marc Ollivier's partner at Domaine de la Pepiere; "The cuvee Clos des Briords was harvested the 24th of September. In 2012 we lost 50% of the harvest due to cold temperatures during the flowering. Then the month of July was a bit rainy, but we had magnificent weather during the month of August, warm temperatures during the day and cool temperatures at night, ideal conditions for a long and slow maturation of the grapes. For the entire harvest, and particularly for the Clos des Briords, we brought in grapes with very beautiful balance (a very beautiful acidity, with a perfect richness in sugar) explained by the small quantity of grapes and the slow maturation. We know that the cuvee Clos des Briords 2012 is today one of the most beautiful examples of this wine since the creation of the Domaine and we know that the wine will evolve extremely well over time."
Briords '13 - According to Marc: "2013, it's a classic vintage with very good acidity, for me similar to 2004, a little less rich than 2012, but quite invigorating."
Briords '14 - From the Domaine: "The Spring was very classic, not too cold, not too warm, and wet as usual. The flowering went well which permitted a nice quantity and quality of grapes. The month of July was sunny but August began like a poor autumn, cold and humid. Late in August we really didn't know what would happen as the risk of rot was very high. Then, after a last big storm around August 24th, dry, warm and sunny weather began which lasted until October. The grapes matured and were of excellent quality with both high sugar and high acidity! We picked the Briords parcel on Monday Sept 15th and Tuesday the 16th in the early part of the harvest. The fermentations went well, lasting approximately a month and a half. I would say that it's a vintage representing what we like in Briords: citrusy vivacity, scintillating material and salinity in the finish."
Briords '15 - In the words of Remi Branger: "For a description of the 2015 vintage, we had a quite beautiful growing season and dry weather in August (the grapes were lacking a bit of water), then at the end of August we had rain, but a bit too much, and this swelled the grapes. Fortunately the grapes stayed healthy and the harvest was beautiful, on September 10th, with good acidity, but a bit less concentration than in 2014. The 2015 Briords has developed well - personally, I find it quite fine and precise."
Tessier '17 - "La Porte Doree" is from 40 to 90 year-old Romorantin vines grown on clay soils with limestone bedrock. The juice undergoes a long, slow alcoholic fermentation and malolactic fermentation, and the wine ages in old foudres and barriques. Minimal SO2 is added before bottling. The domaine says: "We did not expect such a long and strong episode of frost at the end of April.[Describes two frosts, a week apart.] Plots protected by anti-freeze towers do better (around 5ha). The rest is 80 to 90% destroyed. It is all the more infuriating that, following this frost, the climatic conditions until the harvest are rather favorable. In the spared vines, the bunches came out generously, flowering was satisfactory and, with a fine, hot, dry summer, disease pressure was low. The year is starting early. The harvest took place in excellent conditions from September 6 to 22. The grapes are healthy and as is often the case in frost years, there are differences in maturity between the grapes of several generations. The vinification is taking place without any particular problems and the finished wines are frank, fresher than the 2016s."
Th. Boudignon '20 - Background: Thibaud learned his craft with stints at Philippe Charlopin in Gevrey-Chambertin, Ch“teau Lafite-Rothschild and Ch“teau Olivier in Bordeaux, and also some time in Australia. In the late 2000s, he was hired by Savennieres producer Ch“teau Soucherie. He began making wines under his own name in 2009 and now has 7 hectares under his control.
aux Moines '19 - The vineyards stand next to the famed 'Coulee de Serrant' on South-West facing hillsides of predominately schist soils. The Wine Doctor (03/22) says: "This vintage the crop came in at 21 hl/ha, the juice vinified 95% in barrels and 5% in cuves. The nose is very finely polished and crystalline, with a smoky and reductive edge, with enticing scents of white peach and freesias. The palate has a delicious harmony and a vinous presence, supple and textured, sinewy and complete, with notes of orange peel, chamomile, and honeysuckle. This is all laid out on a frame of charged minerality and acidity. A wine with sweet energy and great length, this can only be described as fantastic."
Plaisance '20 - Vinous (06/22) says: "A relatively new winery on everyone's radar, Ch“teau de Plaisance is run by the switched-on, amiable Vanessa Cherruau. Co-owner and winemaker of the estate, she moved with her family to Angers at age 17. After trying her hand at a career in journalism, she fell in love with wine. With an investor, Cherruau purchased this biodynamic estate in the Chaume appellation. The area has historically been known for its sweet whites, but Cherruau is one of an increasing number of growers producing dry wine on the Chaume hill. She'll often be seen sporting her 'Chaume Must Go On' t-shirts. From her first vintage, 2019, the wines show purity and clarity. There's intensity and balance across the range from the Anjou Blanc to the powerful, sophisticated Zerzilles cuvee."
Belargus '18 - European Cellars, the importer, says: Domaine Belargus owns 2.96-hectares of vines in this eastern and southeastern-facing lieu-dit of Roueres and makes two cuvees from this site, a dry wine bearing the Anjou appellation and a late harvest wine labeled Quarts de Chaume. This puddingstone terroir, a natural pebbly conglomerate, is notable for retaining heat and radiating it back into the vineyard well into the evening. ... Domaine Belargus was created in 2018 after Jo Pithon sold his estate to Ivan Massonnat. Though born in the Savoie, Ivan is a passionate wine enthusiast with family roots in Chinon. He has long believed in Chenin Blanc’s potential for diverse terroir expression equal to Pinot Noir in Burgundy. Now totaling 24 hectares, Ivan has assembled a collection of parcels and monopoles in the Anjou Noir the geologically complex and ancient volcanic vineyard lands that stretch from Savennieres in the northwest to Bonnezeaux in the southeast. The reputation of this region was established by religious orders, which planted these vineyards in the 11th century, and the royal courts across Europe that served these wines until phylloxera devasted the region in the late 19th century. The famous hillside of Chaume was replanted in the early 20th century and was awarded the only 1er (Chaume 1er cru) and Grand Cru (Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru) in the Loire Valley. By the 1970s however, industrial farming and shortcuts in the cellar seemed to have irrevocably tarnished the reputation of Quarts de Chaume, Chaume, and Chenin from the Anjou. But starting in the 1980s a new generation of vignerons began to gradually chart a new and promising future for the region, among whom was Jo Pithon who rediscovered and rejuvenated the dramatic and lost terroir of Coteau des Treilles the "Côte Rotie" of the Layon Valley. With Ivan Massonnat stepping in to carry on Jo’s efforts, the future of wines in the Anjou looks more promising than ever. ... With a team that includes winemaker Adrien Moreau, vineyard manager Amaury Chartier, and consultants Jo Pithon and Guy Bossard, Ivan has created a collection of wines that not only reflect the future of Anjou but he has revived the reputation of Coteaux du Layon and Chaume. To achieve this, Domaine de Belargus is farmed organically and is in conversion to biodynamics. All the fruit is picked by hand and frequently in several passes through the vines. Selection is strict, and fermentations are long and spontaneous. Wines are bottled not by the calendar but by how they taste, and they are released only when they are ready.
