The Montlouis-sur-Loire appellation is renowned for its original sparkling wine. The specifications are also quite sharp on its development.
Let’s start with what is prohibited, ie zero destemming or crushing, even less enzyming, yeasting, chaptalization, liqueur detirage and liqueur d’envoi. What is allowed? Drink as much as you want! Still, disgorging is mandatory, otherwise it would snow in your glass, whatever the season. Finally, a minimum of nine months is required as a compulsory stay on slats. It should be noted that organic here accounts for 50% of the appellation.
Jacky Blot at Domaine de la Taille aux Loups
I have always loved the sparkling Montlouis. But it is especially that of Jacky Blot which comes back to me in memory. The decision to pay him a visit to his home was essential, just to remember this “little” party celebrated in the cellar at the Foucaults near Saumur-Champigny, almost 25 years ago now.
A small bomb of finesse as its Triple Zero cuvée ($36.25 – 12025301). Produced since 1993, this one fully respects the rules of the appellation, but the man pushes the envelope further. The low yields of its old Chenin vines (more than 50 years old and pampered organically) already provide the basis by ensuring that only the juices of the cuvée are retained (here at 80% without adding pruning). This is followed by fermentation in barrels for about three months to “clarify” the juices without other forms of filtration, fermentation which reaches its peak with about fifteen grams of sugar on the clock. The latter will continue in the bottle until the sugars run out for the next 36 months. Pure lace of foam, alluring textures, with pear brioche, bright and resonant like a laughing baby with all its teeth to come. (5) ★★★ 1/2
“We wanted to move away from approximate natural sparkling wines,” Jacky points out, pouring me his Rosée Brut version made with old Gamays (from the Les Hauts de Husseau limestone plot) vinified in stainless steel vats for more verticality (without staying on fine lees). Silky bubbles and charm to spare, supported by almost invisible tannins and with an invigorating, almost saline relief. Pure invitation to tease a few sea urchins along the way. And what about this 2012 vintage with its nine years well felt on slats? A rounded Triple Zero, still very much alive with its fine and delicately truffled bitterness. We already want to sit down to eat with a chicken with morels!
Jacky Blot has managed, over the years, to embroider an astonishing patchwork of localities and plots where the Chenin Blanc, but also the Cabernet Franc at the Domaine de la Butte (16 hectares started in 2002 in the Bourgueil appellation, including this magnificent climate mid-slope), becomes the subtle and nuanced mouthpiece of the magnificent terroirs dominated by, among other things, micaceous chalk, yellow tufa, clay with flint, pudding stones and other pebbles. At the Domaine de la Taille aux Loups, but also in Vouvray (Clos de Venise, La Bretonnière, here, in monopoly on a magnificent south-east slope), the man has been able to spot, feel and understand in order to better sing its parcel cuvées, identifying the potentials and exalting the personalities of each of them.
This is the case with his “cold” plot, the Hauts de Husseau, where the limestone outcrops, a substantial and dynamic dry white which is reminiscent of a Meursault Perrières style, racy and long aging. Or this Clos Michet (five hectares) facing south on the hillside, with a tactile pleasure that is both round and striking which, according to Jacky, is “the embodiment of sweetness without imagined sugars”. A plot already different from Clos Mony, surrounded by walls and located just next door, where the chenin subtly gains in luminous and mineral (flint) vibration, playing here on discretion and mystery.
The 12 hectares of this monopoly are of course harvested according to the maturities dictated by the many microclimates, subsoils and slopes (with a bottom of the slope intended for 25% for the blending of the emblematic Rémus cuvée, the spearhead of the house) with, you guessed it, a first sorting at the end of each row of vines at harvest. According to the winemaker, it is a question of capturing the same overall frequency without bothering with possible distortions harmful to the legibility of the plot selection. in question. More precise than Jacky and here you are at the controls of the James Webb telescope harvesting the vineyards of the entire galaxy.
If you pass through Tours, it is imperative that you make a gourmet stop at the bistro Les Belles Caves, of which he is one of the partners. For my part, no need to wait 25 years to meet all his winemaker friends there.