Ogereau "En Chenin" Anjou Blanc '23

 
The Ogereau domaine was established in the late 1890s, when Emmanuel’s great-great-grandfather, a miller and a farmer, planted vines after the phylloxera crisis to further diversify his production. Two generations later, Emmanuel’s grandfather was able to focus fully on the vineyards and the sales of his wine in bulk to a private clientele. Emmanuel’s father, Vincent, began estate bottling. Emmanuel was born in 1989, and studied winemaking and viticulture in Angers after high school. 
 
The Chenin Blanc for the “En Chenin” bottling is grown on about four hectares of land, with the oldest vines planted in the 1910s and the youngest planted in 1995. The parcels are on the left bank of the Layon river, on silt and gray schist soil, and they are farmed organically. The grapes are pressed in whole bunches, with separation of free-run juice (the first twenty liters of free-run juice are always discarded because it can bring an unpleasant herbaceous character and bitterness), light decanting, and partial malolactic conversion (about 50%). Fermentation began in stainless steel tanks and was carried out with indigenous yeasts but is not always spontaneous: it can be prodded with a pied de cuve, a starter made from the domaine’s grapes. The wine was aged for about eight months on the lees in used 400-liter and 500-liter barrels (40%), 20-hectoliter puncheons (40%), and underground sandstone tile-lined tank (20%). No fining, light filtration.