Our Tasting Impressions (Updated)
If it is possible to be intoxicated from the sheer beauty of wine, that is what happened to me. This is Joël Gigou's favorite vintage of this wine. I'm not even going to try to explain it - it's that complex and delicious. Excellent bottles (it is almost 30 years old and the experience can vary) are so bright, fresh and only modestly sweet in its impression. It pairs beautifully with aged goat cheese. This wine will outlive all of us. BRAVO!
N.B. Sadly, the Gigou's have stopped producing this cuvée due to declining demand for sweet wines. This makes the scant remaining examples of this more important to have in your cellar.
About this wine
Yet another wine stemming from the Chenin Blanc in Gigou's prized organically farmed vineyard - Saint Jacques - planted more than 70 years ago. The soil is silex (flint & sand) limestone clay and tuffeau - porous, chalky limestone composed of bryozoan fossils (tiny aquatic invertebrates).
In years where there is botrytis (noble rot), the first harvest of handpicked grapes with ridiculously low yields of 10 hl/ha are sorted for Sélection de Raisins Nobles.
Fermentation is in oak barrels for 6-8 months using indigenous yeasts. The wine ages in the barrels on fine lees for 4 months. It has 70-80 grams of residual sugar.
About the grape
Chenin Blanc is one of the world's great wine grapes. Possibly dating back a millenium, Chenin is notable for its intense acidity. In fact, before the pronounced effects of climate change, cold years in the Loire produced underripe grapes and disastrous vintages. Often vintners had to add sulphur to counteract the savage acidity. Today, that does not happen much and Chenin can fully display its vivacious and glorious floral, hay and honey notes. Chenin is among the most flexible varieties for wine production. It can be vinified dry, off-dry or sweet. It also is capable of producing wines that can live and improve - seemingly - forever.
On Your Table
One of the few wines I would not mind unaccompanied by food. But, you can enjoy this before, during or after a meal. More and more, I am discovering that wines with some sweetness are well suited to a diverse cheese plate. Fourme d’Ambert is particularly recommended.
The Gigou family operates their quaint farm in the central northern reaches of the Loire Valley - not far from Le Mans, home to the famed 24-hour auto road race. Joël, who is credited with saving the appellation of Jasnières, started the estate in 1974 along with his gracious wife Sylvie. His son Ludovic now handles much of the management and his daughter Dorothée runs the office.
Their 8 hectares of vineyards in Jasnières are planted to Chenin Blanc producing dry whites - and sweet in vintages when botrytis (noble rot) occurs. The entire appellation is only 108 hectares and the soil of mostly flint and tuffeau limestone is unique - giving Chenin from Jasnières distinct flavors. They farm without chemicals harvestIng 60% by hand and 40% by machine (stems left on for the Chenin).
Gamay and Pineau d'Aunis (and Chenin for one white) is planted in Côteaux du Loir (5ha) for their reds and rosé. They also produce sparkling wines in all three colors that are not appellation specific. The range of wines is extensive despite producing only about 40-50,000 bottles per year. There are lots of old vines.
Now the remarkable part, Ludovic told me they keep all their bottled wines in their cellar for at least one or two years. He replied, The wine decides when it's ready. In some cases, he would hold them back even longer, except they are often out of storage space. Truly a portrait of a family whose prime concern is that the wines that bear their name are special.
