Les Dorrées White 2020

Les Dorrées White 2020

La Grapperie

Les Dorrées (the name of the plot) is a dry white wine from the Coteaux du Loir, organic and natural (Ecocert), classified Vin de France. Its creator, Renaud Guettier of La Grapperie, made it entirely from Chenin. Depending on the vintage, it may or may not offer slightly overripe notes.

Vinification

Les Dorrées comes from the oldest Chenin Blanc vines on the estate (117 years old), planted on soils dominated by clay and flint over a limestone substrate. Hand-picked, organic and additive-free work in the vineyard and cellar, and aged for 24 months to refine and polish the wine.

Tasting

Les Dorrées is an exceptional white wine that bears the signature of La Grapperie Chenins: pure and enchanting, offering slightly oxidative, smoky, and mineral notes on the nose, and white fruits, quince, walnuts, and almonds on the palate with a saline finish of impressive length. It is a white wine with body and density, capable of supporting all taste pairings. We see it pairing well with a beautiful roast poultry, a rack of oven-roasted pork, or grilled lamb. It will also pair well with seafood: smoked salmon, oysters and shellfish, or goat cheese and rillettes from the Loire Valley.

Learn more about Renaud Guettier and La Grapperie

In the Coteaux du Loir appellation, La Grapperie is the name of the estate of Renaud Guettier, who can be described as a master of Chenin, but also of Pineau d'Aunis, which is one of the oldest grape varieties in the Loire Valley.

The estate

Renaud's 60 hectares of vines, on the hillside, are protected from the north winds by the Bercé forest. Depending on the altitude, the terroirs are predominantly clay, flint or sand. The grape varieties are the two traditionally authorized in the appellation: Chenin for the whites and Pineau d'Aunis for 90% of the reds, the rest consisting of a few ares of Côt, Gamay and Grolleau. Some vines are more than a hundred years old.

In the vineyard and the winery

The entire estate is cultivated organically. The soils are worked and all viticultural interventions are manual, including the harvest, carried out at full maturity, which is reflected in the fullness and smoothness of the wines. For the reds, the Pineau d'Aunis is partially destemmed (depending on the plot) and the macerations are quite long, three to four weeks, with punching down, to promote aging potential. The wines are aged in barrels for between twelve and twenty-four months, then racked, blended and bottled without filtration. For the whites, the Chenins are pressed directly at low pressure then put into barrels with complete malolactic fermentation, for at least eighteen months, malolactic included, and sometimes up to thirty-six months.