Pascaline motioned as she murmured to herself, “That’s the schist, over there is the limestone.” We were on the way to a schist town of Rablay-sur-Layon, once famed for its sweet wines and now invaded by natural wine makers who want to make dry. We were visiting one of them, slate chenin master, Richard Leroy.
Leroy, soccer player-turned investment banker-turned vigneron was influenced by the no sulfur, natural winemaking of Domaine Les Sablonettes. Today, the Leroy wines are celebrated, yet in 2012, he had ditched safety and went sulfur-free. This was to be our first taste.