LA GRAPPERIE
La Bueilloise 2020
Loire, France
This wonderful pétillant is made up of Chenin Blanc from Renaud’s youngest vines. It begins fermentation in cuve before being transferred to bottle where the wine spent a year on its lees before being disgorged by hand. An extra couple of years in bottle for this cellar release has rendered a pétillant of uncommon finesse. Dry, fresh and clean as a whistle, it pairs ripe stone fruits and chalky minerals to beautiful effect. We often open a bottle of this after a marathon tasting at Renaud’s and it always makes for a memorable apéritif.
Chenin Blanc
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Renaud Guettier is based in the village of Bueil-en-Touraine in the Coteaux-du-Loir, an area which is undoubtedly one of the Loire’s great terroirs.
Renaud trained as an agronomist specialising in plant physiology and in 2004 purchased half a hectare of old vines from his stepfather. Over the past decade he has acquired old parcels of Chenin Blanc and Pineau d’Aunis bit by bit and now farms a few dozen plots across five hectares, with an average vine age of eighty years.
The terroir is a combination of clay, flint and limestone and farming is meticulous, done organically, without the use of chemicals or pesticides. Grapes are hand picked and brought to his cave in a former quarry dug into the limestone cliffs where they are fermented, pressed manually and fed by gravity to the cellar below. There they see a year or two of élevage resting in old wooden casks, something Renaud considers vital when producing wines as he does, without anything added at any stage.
Renaud produces wines of uncommon power, balance and detail that possess a remarkable ability to age.