Vigneau Chevreau Vouvray 2010 All Bio-Dynamic and a Wonder Vintage
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The lovely cuvee Silex
(which means flint in French,
a reference to the soil
composition)
Biodynamique since 1997! Now 2010 – This new Loire wonderful vintage is just in and for the many fans (including me) of this very popular wine just in time.
Wine Spectator writes “France’s Loire Valley…now looks to have rare back-to-back strong vintages in the pipeline. The 2010 harvest appears to be a potentially outstanding follow-up to the excellent 2009 vintage.”
I was at Vigneau-Chevreau this past week tasting the 2010 whites including this delicious Vouvray Silex. Everyone I spoke to in the Loire felt that while 2009 was a wonderful ripe vintage the 2010s had better acidity. In white wines acidity is what makes the difference and between refreshing and crisp and just Ok. It also magnifies the fruit. Acidity is a delicate thing to get just right but in 2010 that is what you get. A perfect summer refresher at a no-holding-back price.
Wine Spectator further specifies, “[2010] Wines should be fresher in style than the concentrated 2009s, with brighter acidity.” For Chenin Blancs specifically, they bestow a high rating of 89-92!
There is nobody that doesn’t love this wine – it has become one of our most popular white wines. Cool, crisp, pure fruit are the comments that I get from fans.
This is the moment to uncork some Loire wines.
Vigneau Chevreau is a real charmer, with lemons and minerals bursting from the glass. The flavors are pure. The wine is dry, but not a steely, steely dry.
La Revue du Vin de France:
“This estate, which is biodynamique (organic) is distributed over several types of soil which permits assemblages of wine which play right into the hands of the Chenin Blanc grape with its velvety acidity so typical of a good Vouvray. Vigneau Chevreau makes wine with lots of textural finesse and generous minerality…”
The cellars are impeccable here. Vouvray is planted in tuffeau, a limestone rock. Tuffeau is the same white rock that many of the chateaux of the Loire are made from. The rock was excavated from the land leaving behind cavernous caves which the Vouvrillons put to good use as wine chais (barrel storage rooms). The caves are very old and snake around for hundreds of meters underground.
Vigneau Chevreau has been around since 1875 and has been worked by 5 generations. The estate is now 25 hectares spread across several communes permitted to put Vouvray on their labels. The diversity of plots makes for more complexity in the final blend.
When you have a glass of Silex, lemons and minerals will burst from the glass. The flavors are pure. The grapes are hand-harvested and carefully sorted to ensure that only the ripe, healthy grapes make it into the bottle.
The estate has been certified biodynamique since 1995. Bio means no chemicals, no pesticides in the vineyards or in the winery. It also requires only natural yeasts which contribute to the pure and natural flavors.
Quality is very important at Domaine Vigneau Chevreau and it is instantly apparent in the wines. When I landed in the Domaine’s cellars, I’d already had a full day of tasting Vouvray after Vouvray, but it wasn’t hard to pick my favorite. How about a glass of Vouvray tonight? Cynthia Hurley