I love the Loire. A lot. Enormously. From the Pays nantais in the west to Sancerrois in the east, with this succession of small wine-growing pearls that crimp the path without getting lost, from Reuilly to Jasnières via Montlouis-sur-Loire or the hills of the Loir and Ancenis, like a Petit Poucet too greedy of Sauvignon, Chenin Blanc and melon de Bourgogne, Gamay, Pinot Noir or even Cabernet Franc. It’s true that today we are light years away from those skimpy, skimpy and scrawny wines of just a few decades ago, wines that will make you wince at the same Tom Thumb clinking glasses at the counter of a Parisian bistro.
What has changed ? The findings revealed during the first “Montlouis on The Rock” edition dedicated to chenin blanc which took place at the beginning of July between Loire and Cher in Montlouis-sur-Loire are clear. Better understanding of the plant material, but also of the subsoils and the maturities linked to the different plots, innovative pruning adapted to the terroir and water resources, or even work from the press to the cellar (to play on the notions of acidity, among other things, while taking care of both oxidation and reduction) and early settling are all avenues discussed for drawing the outlines of a Chenin Blanc subject, like other cultivated vines, to climatic contrasts. “Chenin blanc is not a fruit wine, it’s more complex than that”, argued speaker Pascaline Lepeltier, suggesting that king chenin, “without necessarily being built on its tannic substance”, remains a prime candidate. for long stays in bottle.
“We should have already learned lessons with the 1997 harvest, a very significant vintage in terms of climate change,” noted François Chidaine, owner of 22 hectares of chenin in Montlouis, worked according to the principles of biodynamics since 1999. “ The chenins produced today are however better than 30 years ago, although we have other challenges to overcome, but it is in the order of the possible”, he concluded in a more optimistic way. However, by counting, the frost had its bite on no less than six vintages out of the nine between 2012 and 2021 with, for the last vintage alone (2021), between 70 and 80% of the harvest wiped out. Later pruning and setting up a “baguette” with the aim of slightly increasing yields would be a possible solution here.
In Montlouis, as elsewhere in the Loire, the winegrowers exchange, consult and multiply the avenues to best adapt their cultural practices and their techniques due to the vagaries of the weather. François Chidaine tends to move towards polyculture, dividing up the plots (here 70 spread over three zones), thus increasing the carbon-capturing plant cover (1 tonne/year/hectare), while Thomas Fort (Domaine de Mouscaillo in Limoux) advocates a diversity of habitats with a (very) original approach aimed at “reintegrating vegetation into the wine-growing landscape that exerts downward pressure on water stocks while promoting biodiversity”. This too short edition devoted to chenin blanc in Montlouis ended with still “in the boots of the mountains of questions”, it is true, but the dynamic local production seems to prove here that we do not skip the stages and that proactive actions are in the air. Without misplacing a gourmet Petit Poucet of chenin blanc!
Bottles tasted on site to make you dream? The duty was served here with edifying lessons in chenin blanc. Here are a few: Cuvée Bournais 2010 (François Chidaine), Clos de Mosny 2015 (Domaine de la Taille aux Loups), Empreintes 2019 (The Written Stones), Les Épinays 2017 (La Grange Tiphaine), L’Insolente 2019 (Laura David), Les Pions (Ludovic Chanson), Bulles de Chenin 2020 (Montoray), Prestance (Thierry Mosny), Extra Brut (Thet), Caillasses 2020 (Breton), or even the sovereign sweetness of Montlouis 1989 by Damien Moyer.