Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Known as the Coulée de Serrant’s little sister, this is a beautiful expression of Chenin Blanc. An explosion of flavours in the mouth, a sphere of orange blossom, white truffles, saffron and rich lemons. There is a multitude of flavour here, complex like you can barely believe, and yet each one is expressed with delicacy and finesse. Joly says he loves wines that ‘cast a light as they go’, and the poetry of that phrase makes total sense here. Indigenous yeasts and although under 10ppm of sulphur added, it’s remarkably stable – the wine we drank here had been open for 8 days and yet still tasted fresh and full of life.
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Wine & Spirits
Perhaps the least challenging of Joly’s three cuvées from his biodynamic estate, this grows on schist soils with an eastern exposure. It’s also the most synesthetic, presenting its tastes in a sunrise of color, from golden quince to red-hued tannins. It’s pure and honeyed without any sense of sweetness or any notes of oxidation (well, one taster did pick up on some volatile acidity, but that comes with the territory). Bursting with freshness, this is powerful, grand Savennières.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Intensely yellow in color, the 2014 Roche-aux-Moines Clos de la Bergerie has a deep and concentrated bouquet of ripe and stewed stone fruits along with herbal seeds. This wine needs a lot of time to open up and should be decanted for hours. Round, rich and elegant on the palate, with a racy acidity attack, great density and a lively mineral purity and backbone, this is a powerful, firmly structured Chenin; it has a good tannin grip and a long and intense finish. Still somewhat closed and bitter, but the concentration and rich fruit is obvious. Although I didn't have the chance to follow this bottle over days, I am pretty sure it will become an even more exiting wine with (much) more aeration.
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.
Known for its delightful whites and sparkling Pétillant and Mousseux, made predominantly of Chenin blanc, Anjou has a temperate and dry maritime climate. The region's limited temperature variations are admiringly referred to locally as the “douceur angevine,” or “Anjou sweetness.” Fruit forward rosé and red wines from Cabernet Franc and Gamay merit Anjou its success within the Loire subregions.