Domain: La Taille aux Loups

The Domaine de la Taille aux Loups story began in the early 1990s. At that time Jacky Blot was a wine broker, but when presented with the opportunity to buy some vineyards in Montlouis it did not take him long to decide. Having learned a lot from Nicolas Joly of la Coulée de Serrant, he took a different approach to winemaking and innovated constantly to breathe new life into the appellation. Ploughing and manual harvesting seemed quite groundbreaking at the time. He avoided malolactic fermentation for his dry wines, preferring to ferment them in barriques followed by a lengthy élevage in barrels (today a little more restrained). He also worked his magic on sparkling and sweet white wines. Today, the property boasts 25 hectares of Chenin vineyards beside the Loire and Cher Rivers and 400 barriques which are housed in magnificent cellars. In addition, Jacky Blot owns 5 hectares of vineyards on two very fine terroirs in Vouvray - Clos de Venise (1 ha) and Clos de la Bretonnière (4 ha) - and also acquired Clos de Mosny in Montlouis, a superb 12 hectare parcel fully enclosed within 1.6 km of walls. In 2011 he began to use the best grapes from this very high quality, fully south-facing terroir for a new cuvée known as "Clos de Mosny". The remainder of the harvest goes partly into the "Clos Michet" cuvée and partly into the sparkling wine "Triple Zéro". Finally, we should not forget Domaine de la Butte in Bourgueil and its 15 uninterrupted hectares of Cabernet Franc on one of the best hillsides in the appellation. The vines have been cultivated organically from the outset and received official certification in 2012. The Chenin vines are, on average, 80 years old. There is no contest - this domain is one of the best, if not the best, in the region!