JÉRÔME LAMBERT
Le Zu de Fruit 2021
Loire, France
Bearing all the hallmarks of this cold, wet vintage, this is as pretty a Grolleau as you’ll find. From forty year old vines planted over sandy loam, the grapes fermented as whole bunches for a fortnight, before being pressed off to rest for nine months in fibreglass vats. Light and bright, playful and perfumed, this piles on the charm with vibrant notes of red berries, blood orange, earth and spice. A wine we’ll be reaching for time and time again this spring.
Grolleau
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Jérôme Lambert tends just a few hectares of vines near Rablay-sur-Layon, in a remote part of the Loire south of Angers.
Jérôme farms Chenin Blanc organically from a single plot of low-yielding vines up to fifty years old planted over schist. He’ll often make several harvests at various stages of ripeness, offering a fascinating insight into this great terroir. These are tense, focused expressions of Chenin that possess a wonderful ability to age.
Jérôme also farms a little Grolleau and Cabernet Franc. The fruit here is planted over sandy soils and the wines reflect these. They are juicy, joyful and perfumed. In short, everything we look for in the vibrant reds of the Loire.
From a makeshift cellar that some might scoff at, Jérôme uses nothing but grapes to make wines which are amongst the most distinctive we have tried. We could not be happier to be receiving a small allocation of his tiny production each year.