Grolleau IGP 2021

A red wine that puts clarity above concentration. The fruit stays transparent, the texture silky, and despite vines over a hundred years old, the wine remains light on its feet.

The estate lies in Ambillou-Château in Anjou, 90 metres above sea level and 120 kilometres from the Atlantic, where warm days meet cool nights. The vines root in silty-clay soil made up of gravel, pebbles and red flint over tuffeau limestone.

Grolleau is an indigenous Loire variety only recently vinified as a single varietal and, above all, dry; two hectares on the estate are planted with it, the vines over a hundred years old. Work follows the lunar calendar with biodynamic preparations, and yields sit at around 25 hectolitres per hectare. The grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed and, after thirty days of maceration with gentle punch-downs of the cap, pressed pneumatically. 30 percent ferments spontaneously in 228-litre Burgundy barrels, 70 percent in large wood; after 14 months of ageing the wine is blended in steel and bottled on a fruit day.

The attack picks up where the nose left off: blackberry, black cherry and damson plum, joined by black pepper, clove, black olive, bay leaf and dark tobacco leaf. Ripe acidity carries the extract-rich fruit, while fine-grained, almost dusty tannin sets the direction. At 12.0 percent alcohol, everything stays fresh and lively.

Smoked beetroot with goat's-milk labneh, wild herb salad and salted lemon; cod wrapped in pancetta on smoked aubergine purée with olive oil beurre blanc; squab with blood sauce, creamy polenta and cime di rapa.

Clau de Nell has farmed biodynamically since 2000, and the label carries the Demeter logo. Anne-Claude Leflaive and Christian Jacques took over the then-fallow estate in 2008; since 2009 former sommelier Sylvain Potin has been responsible for the cellar.