Thierry Germain Saumur Clos du Moulin 2016
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James
Suckling -
Wine &
Spirits
Product Details
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Winemaker Notes
Thierry Germain’s Chenin Blancs are bone dry, high acid, mineral whites that drink like Chablis young and take on weight slowly over time. These wines are as pure and as profound as any I’ve ever had. In other words, wow.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Pretty dried-apple, pear and green-melon aromas follow through to a full body with layers of fruit and a phenolic and textured mouth feel. Flavorful and bone-dry at the end with a stone and chalk undertone. Drink or hold.
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Wine & Spirits
This 2.5-acre parcel in Parnay is one of the oldest Thierry Germain farms at his Biodyvin-certified domaine. He ferments it without additions in 600-liter oak casks, then ages it in smaller barrels, none of them new. The wine presents itself with a pale umami character, its fresh apple and chamomile notes deepening to an earthy vegetal flavor, like roasted butternut squash. There’s something glorious about the way the malic acidity expresses the limestone soils of the site, providing clean refreshment for pan-roasted river fish.
Thierry’s domaine, Roches Neuves, whose vineyards are planted in the Saumur (Blanc) and Saumur-Champigny (Rouge) appellations, has rightfully become one of the greatest examples of high achievement in biodynamic vine growing in France. We put him up there with the greats: Abbatucci in Corsica, Ganevat in the Jura, Ostertag in Alsace. His total dedication to site specific wines produced from Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc, his “parcellaires,” has produced some of the most exciting wines in the Loire Valley today.
Thierry relocated to the Loire from Bordeaux in the early 1990s, and soon fell under the influence of his spiritual father, Charly Foucault of Clos Rougeard. Thierry would ultimately convert his entire domaine to biodynamic viticulture, which was the equivalent of his wine epiphany. Listening and observing his plants, allowing them to guide him, revolutionized his way of thinking. Thierry harvests on the relatively early side to preserve fresh, vibrant fruit. His goal is to produce Cabernet with purity, finesse, and drinkability, while avoiding rusticity, vegetal character, and hard tannins. When it comes to his Chenin, he makes bone dry, high acid, mineral wines that drink like Chablis young and take on weight slowly over time. Aging takes place in large oval foudres (for the whites) and round foudres and demi-muids (for the reds) in Thierry’s frigid tuffeau cellars below his winery in Varrains. His incredibly diverse terroirs are translated with utter clarity and precision.
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.
Marked by great châteaux built with the same tuffeau limestone that is also responsible for the excavation of so many of the famed Loire caves, Saumur is famous for its Chenin blanc based sparkling wines. Inside the Saumur region, Saumur-Champigny creates some of the Loire’s greatest Cabernet Francs.