Francois Chidaine Les Argiles 2018 ( Chenin Blanc )
* Across any 6 bottles of wine, when purchased in store.
Les Argiles is a medium intensity stroll along a gravelly path towards a fanatical botanist’s orchard party; a feast of fruit, honey, toast, earth, spice and all things nice.
Grown in Vouvray, it is not permitted to bear that name because it ferments and matures across the river in Montlouis. It is therefore labelled Vin de France, a change in circumstance that has not bothered Chidaine’s clients one jot.
As always, this magnificent bottling is drawn from a series of clay-rich (argiles) Vouvray sites that surround the Clos Baudoin. These include L’Espagnole, La Chatterie, L’Homme, Les Reugnières and Le Haut Lieu (of Huet fame). Set away from the river, these sites are mostly populated with 40-year-old bush vines, which grow on deep, chalky clay over a limestone subsoil. All these vineyards are managed biodynamically and with regenerative agriculture. Les Argiles is hand-harvested with multiple passes through the vineyards. Fermentation occurs with indigenous yeasts and the wine ages on lees in 620-litre demi-muids for about 11 months.
