Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Vouvray Le Mont Demi-Sec shows an intense yellow color with a golden shimmer. The bouquet is very diverse to the other 2014s of the domaine and shows more yeasty flavor along with delicate, precise ripe fruit aromas that are more open and enriched with fennel aromas at this stadium. On the palate, this is a lovely, fresh and juicy, persistently mineral Chenin with an aromatic intensity and persistency, also with great finesse and lingering salinity. Maybe some barrels underwent the malolactic fermentation, which makes this Le Mont more accessible than usual at this early moment. The finish is very pure and salty with lovely fruity, but in a very refined way. This is a gorgeous, tension-filled Le Mont with 20 grams per liter of residual sugar. Rating: 94+
Unquestionably one of the most diverse grape varieties, Chenin Blanc can do it all. It shines in every style from bone dry to unctuously sweet, oaked or unoaked, still or sparkling and even as the base for fortified wines and spirits. Perhaps Chenin Blanc’s greatest asset is its ever-present acidity, maintained even under warm growing conditions. Somm Secret—Landing in South Africa in the mid 1800s, today the country has double the acreage of Chenin Blanc planted compared to France. There is also a new wave of dedicated producers committed to restoring old Chenin vines.
An important white wine appellation in the Touraine and one of the top in all of the Loire, Vouvray uniquely specializes in a wide range of styles from dry to sweet, and still to sparkling, each with its own definitive character. Vouvray is almost always 100% Chenin blanc (however up to 5% Menu Pineau is theoretically allowed but not often used).
Vouvray is also the name of a pretty little town just east of Tours on the northern bank of the Loire—its vineyards surround it to the northeast. Houses and cellars are carved out of the local tuffeau, a chalky or sandy, fine-grained limestone. Vineyards inhabit clay and gravel topsoil over tuffeau on the plateau, the best of which have a slight slope with a southerly aspect.
Chenin blanc’s high acidity and natural adaptability allow it to produce a wide range of styles with enormous success. Styles under the Vouvray name include sparkling, both Brut and Demi-Sec and still: Sec (dry) and Tendre (off-dry) as well as Demi-Sec (noticeably sweet), Moelleux (very sweet) and Liquoreaux (botrytized). Most can age about five years but the best quality versions will continue to improve over decades.