Coteaux-du-Loir "L'Effraie"

2020
France
Loire

100% Chenin Blanc. L`Effraie or "the owl”--in reference to local vineyard inhabitants--is a Coteaux du Loir from 11 Bellivière parcels scattered across 3.5 hectares and two villages. The gobelet-pruned vines range from 10 to 30 years old and are planted on flinty clay soils over tuffeau with pebbles and sand to varying degrees.  They are farmed biodynamically and tended and harvested by hand. The bunches are pressed and barrel-fermented with native yeasts and without sulfur; fermentation stops naturally in the cold cellar, always leaving some residual sugar. Each parcel is vinified separately. The wines are aged on their fine lees in mainly used barrels for a year and then blended. The final wine is bottled with a light filtration and with a minute dose of sulfur. The 2020 finished with 16 grams/liter of residual sugar and 3.54 grams/liter of acidity. 

92 points
"The 2020 Coteaux du Loir “l’Effraie” bottling from Domaine de Bellivière is fairly similar statistically to the les Rosiers, as the wine finished up its fermentation with sixteen grams of residual sugar and, due to the drought’s concentrating effect, ended up at fourteen percent octane. The wine delivers beautiful aromatics in its constellation of pineapple, tangerine, sweet quince, a touch of honeycomb, lovely, flinty soils and a topnote of dried flowers. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied and nicely plush at the core, with good soil signature, sound 37 framing acids, a nice touch of sweetness and a long, focused and very nicely balanced finish. The les Rosiers Jasnières has a touch more acidity to it this year, but both bottlings are very tasty in 2020. 2022-2045."
John Gilman,
View from the Cellar

SKU/Code: 
DB8415-20
Product Line: 
Wine
White
Varietal: 
Chenin Blanc
Farming Type: 
Biodynamic