A month of travel lays ahead for both my lady and I, yet with different routes and destinations that don’t seem to connect. We shared a late-night bottle of Domaine de Bellivière ’06 La Rouge-Gorge that we both enjoyed immensely. The spice and green leafiness mixed with the pretty and radiant red fruit reminded me of the lovely Loire Gamay from Noëlla Morantin. The La Rouge-Gorge with more structure and definition. Beautiful wine for unwelcome departure.
More on the wine this Sunday.
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One Response:
February 6th, 2010 at 1:36 am
I visited Clos de l’Elu (www.closdelelu.com) in St Aubin-de-Luigne last month, a 30 ha property about 100 km SW from the domaine you feature here. It was purchased three years ago by a couple friends who had formed a partnership and had been searching for some quality terroir and facility to start producing wine. Needless to say one of their first decisions was to begin converting to organic methods in the vineyard. The owner/vigneron explained that he is experimenting with a range of techniques both in the vineyard and wine making as he begins to understand a terroir that is new to him, having previously made wine in Provence. Of relevance to your post, he told us he is fascinated by this traditional variety pineau d’aunis that has lost mainstream importance in the Loire in favour of gamay and cabernet. To this extent, he is replacing an old gamay parcel with pineau d’aunis, to have even more of the variety in his wine making.
I believe these old varieties have always been valued by a small number of producers in the Loire, and I think it significant that the trend is growing to a point where both new vines are being cultivated, and these grapes are being appreciated in overseas markets.