Pierre Menard Le Clos Des Mailles Chenin Blanc 2022

Pierre Menard Le Clos Des Mailles Chenin Blanc 2022

Pierre Menard
$44.00

Grape: Chenin Blanc
Vintage: 2022
Type: White

This dry white wine represents Pierre Menard's entry-level chenin blanc sourced from the highest elevations of the Clos de Mailles vineyard. The vines grow organically on a hillside of unique phthalite and schist soils that naturally limit yields and build structural complexity. Spontaneous fermentation occurs with indigenous wild yeasts in used barrels, completely avoiding modern chemical corrections or technological adjustments. The liquid matures for ten months on its fine lees and is bottled unfiltered and unfined.

It pours a bright straw-yellow color, releasing clean aromatics of green apple, fresh pear, and delicate white blossoms over a smoky stone baseline. A sleek, medium-bodied frame balances orchard fruit flavors with an underlying chiseled mineral core. A lively wave of natural acidity cuts through the waxy texture, maintaining great freshness and an athletic energy. The extended barrel lees aging provides a subtle structure that frames the mid-palate cleanly. It finishes completely bone-dry.

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.

Hand harvesting, gentle pneumatic pressing, fermentation, and aging in a combination of used barrels, sandstone amphora, and tank.