Pierre Ménard Pluton wine bottle

Pierre Menard Pluton 2022

Pierre Menard
$79.00

Grape: Chenin Blanc
Vintage: 2022
Type: White

This dry white wine represents Pierre Menard's flagship cuvée, with an incredibly restricted production of only two barrels. Sourced from the Clos de Mailles vineyard, the old chenin blanc vines grow on a vein of blue schist and quartz. The hand-harvested fruit is managed biodynamically, undergoing soft pneumatic pressing and a spontaneous fermentation driven by native wild yeasts. It undergoes a natural maturation process, split between old French oak barrels and a small stoneware clay jar.

It pours a luminous gold hue, releasing complex aromatics of yellow orchard fruit, preserved lemon, and chamomile over a stony mineral baseline. On the palate, the full-bodied, structured frame balances deep fruit volume with an underlying sharp beam of limestone acidity. Flavors of yellow pear and acacia honey seamlessly wrap around a dense mouthfeel that quivers with structural tension. The stoneware contact provides an understated structural cushion that frames mid-palate cleanly.

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.