SAUMUR AOC "ESPRIT DE CHENIN" 2019 - DOMAINE DE LA PALEINE

Denomination : Saumur AOC

Vintage : 2019

Alcohol : 14%

Region : Loire (Italy)

Format : 0.75 l

Grapes : Chenin Blanc 100%

Organic wine

Vineyard: Le Puy-Notre-Dame, Saumurois, Loire – 37 hectares – average age of the vines 25 years
Pruning and average yield: Guyot Poussard pruning. Average yield: 35 hectoliters/hectare
Plant density: 4,500 plants/hectare
Soil and subsoil: silty and clayey chalk, white in colour
Vinification: Manual harvest. Spontaneous alcoholic fermentation (indigenous yeasts) in stainless steel tanks at controlled temperature (20 °C). Aging in stainless steel tanks (12 months) without oenological additives. Bottling between July and September
Sulphites: total 16 mg/l; free <10 mg/l (year 2019)
Average quantity produced: 5-7,000 bottles a year
Type of bottle and closure: Burgundy, cork stopper

Historic domaine of Saumurois, in the heart of the Loire, the Domaine de la Paleine has its roots in local history. However, it was in 2003 that its current physiognomy began to take shape, daughter of the loving care of Laurence and Marc Vincent – ​​she came from an ancient Saumuroise family – who launched a work of renewal with determination. In 2010 the Bureau Veritas organic certification arrives, the result of the total ban on chemistry in the vineyard. But you are not satisfied with the results, Laurence and her husband aim for a biodynamic dimension (Demeter 2017 certification), which allows them to best express the potential of the clayey-limestone-chalky terroir of the Puy-Notre-Dame sector, a very promising sector of Saumur which , since 2009, an autonomous denomination of origin has popped up, with a more rigorous disciplinary than the nearby AOPs.

After the manual harvest, the respectful approach begun in the vineyard continues with the same savoir-faire in the cellar, the realm of the winemaker Patrick Nivelleau . Naturally, all oenological additives are banned, with the exception of small quantities of sulfites. The fermentations are entrusted to indigenous yeasts and bacteria, and take place with precise temperature control.
The sparkling process of the effervescent wines takes place in the cellars dug into the chalk of the subsoil, where, at a constant 12 °C and away from the light, the second fermentation in the bottle and the autolysis of the yeasts take place.
In this way the Chenin blanc, the Cabernet franc and the other vines grown in the Paleine give the best of themselves, for purity, personality and precision.