Étienne Courtois shares the Quartz vineyard with his father Claude. Their vines are mostly older, own-rooted, protected from phyloxera by the area’s ultra-sandy soils. This is an exuberant, elegant drink.... read more →
Blandine (more on the vinification) and Jérémie (more in the vineyard) are making promising wine, not far from the Puzelats. This côt gets a short maceration of a week before... read more →
Organic since 1998, Tessier is a benchmark winery in the tiny appellation of Cheverny. The Nota Bene, made only in the best vintages from his oldest vines, is a knockout.... read more →
Villemade is making even more gorgeous wines these days on his sandy clay and flint soils over limestone. This wine comes from four plots of vines up to 40 years... read more →
From Cour-Cheverny, the ground zero for the romorantin grape. This particular romo is from vines that have up to 60 years of age. The grapes are fermented and aged in... read more →
Claude Courtois lives and works in the ‘we get no respect’ east of Orléans commune of Soings-en-Sologne in the Loir-et-Cher. His roots are deep in the back-to-nature movement—not in the... read more →
Claude and his son Étienne work on limestone soils in the middle Loire. After a classic infusion-like fermentation (not carbonic), they give the wines a solid twenty-four months of aging... read more →
Claude’s son Etienne makes this little wine from the gascon grape, rare and indigenous to their area in western Loire. It makes for a small-berried bunch that can be a... read more →
Vinified and aged in old wood, the wine is long and lovely. Full of a grapefruit, juicy ripe acid—all sorts of citrus threading through the wine. A zingy experience.
Claude and his son Etienne work in a part of the Loire full of forest. Here is a different expression of sauvignon blanc than the Quartz (to the right). From... read more →