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This beautiful, unusually concentrated Menetou-Salon comes from 30-year-old vines grown on sloping parcels of soft, porous Kimmeridgian limestone chalk and calcareous rocky marl. The grapes are hand-harvested and vinified exclusively in thermoregulated stainless steel tanks. In a good large glass, the wine has a limpid, shimmering, yellow-green color, with flashes of platinum at the edge. Aromas of kaffir lime, grapefruit oil, lemon curd, and white flowers move in and out of the foreground, sometimes alternating with suggestions of white peaches, Italian parsley, walnut shells, and grated ginger as the nose evolves in the glass. On the palate, the wine is generous and concentrated, at the same time reined in and precise, with a spicy kernel of white nectarines, bergamot, Seckel pear, and lemongrass, all seasoned with intense saline minerality that persists through the long, elegant finish. Drink now for the wine’s electrifying energy and primary fruit, or tuck away in a cool cellar for five years or more.
About this wine producer: The estate was established in 1970, when Jean-Bernard Moindrot took control of vineyards his grandfather had established years earlier to supplement the income from his cereal mill. In 1999, Jean-Bernard’s son, Valentin Moindrot, took the reins of what had grown to be a fifteen-hectare vineyard, including these eleven hectares of Sauvignon Blanc, and four of Pinot Noir.
The vines have always been farmed without the use of chemical pesticides or herbicides, and a cover crop of grass and alfalfa is grown between the rows, to encourage deeply rooted vines, as well as to control erosion of the slopes. The estate produces about 9000 cases annually, with 80% of the production sold to private customers locally, and to restaurants throughout the Loire Valley and beyond in France.
$23.00