Grape: Chenin BlancVintage: 2020Type: White Pierre Menard grew up in a winemaking family in Anjou. He went on to study winemaking in Angers and to work stints in Pauillac at Chateau Latour, in the Duoro, Canada, New Zealand and in Tokaj, Hungary. When he returned home to Anjou, he began farming a few rows of his family’s old vine Chenin and Sauvignon Blanc. Traditionally his parents sold the grapes from all 13 hectares of their vines to a cooperative, but they agreed to let him keep some for his own project. In 2013, while still in his twenties, he bottled a miniscule number of bottles in a garage turned wine cellar. This inaugural vintage was received with great critical acclaim and a rising star of Anjou was born. Since then, Pierre has expanded his holdings to more than 1.5 hectares, all farmed biodynamically. He makes several bottlings of Chenin Blanc from these old vines, all dry. The Quart de Noels is a very special wine, made from Chenin Blanc planted in 1920, is a wine of incredible depth, minerality and fruit expression. In the nose wet stone, candied pear and salinity mingle with intense focus and persistence. On the palate the wine is explosive, dense with good structure and acidity, apt at doing the heavy lifting. For us one of the best Chenin Blancs we have tasted.
