La Pente De Chavigny 2024 Grape|Bonarda

La Pente De Chavigny 2024 Grape|BonardaMikal's classic Touraine Sauvignon Blanc from a mixture of five different parcels, each planted over gravelly limestone. The grapes are direct pressed, then fermented for a month in fibre glass before being raised in steel for a pristine, bone dry and whistle clean style. The fruit is harvested once it has shed those clichd, underripe grassy green characteristics, and its sharp line of acidity is emphasised by the wine naturally not completing

The fruit is ripe pear

The barrel notes are balanced

there is the raw attack of freshly squeezed lemon with something more oily and pithy to soften the edges

A mix of Xarel

Given the usual Gismondi treatment

adding many layers of complex cedar spice to wrap around the smoky red fruits

before being pressed off to vat to finish fermentation and rest until the following spring

The fruit is destemmed and fermented in concrete

all underpinned with pronounced stony minerals

although a splash of soda

To start the grapes were foot-trodden as whole bunches and macerated over the course of a day

This kind of unrushed approach produces something that you could draw a parallel to Champagne or a decent Cremant with