La Belle Egarée White 2022

La Belle Egarée White 2022

La Grapperie

La Belle Égarée is an organic (Ecocert) and natural dry white wine from the Coteaux du Loir, made from Chenin Blanc, without any additives or inputs. It is produced by Renaud Guettier of La Grapperie in the Vin de France category.

Vinification

La Belle Égarée comes from a blend of old and young vines growing on clay-siliceous soils over limestone. The harvest is carried out by hand and is directly pressed, and the must ferments in barrels using indigenous yeasts. Fermentation is followed by one year of aging. No sulfites added at bottling.

Tasting

A superb white Chenin, fruity and mineral, La Belle Égarée is stunningly complex; it is a wine of pure poetry, a fairy tale, focused on roundness and maturity more than acidity. A floral nose of jasmine, hawthorn, and acacia, a palate all mirabelle plum, ripe apple, and white pineapple, with mineral touches of smoke and incense. And a well-managed oxidative touch, in addition to a little something bewitching that is quite difficult to explain. A chiseled, truly exceptional wine, to be reserved for the finest meals or drunk on its own. Pair it with the finest cuisine, that of special occasions. For example, caviar, bottarga, large smoked salmon, oysters. It will go very well with a bellota Iberian ham!

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 hillside vines 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 varieties 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 organically cultivated. 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 Pineaux d'Aunis are 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 and then put into barrels with complete malolactic fermentation, for at least eighteen months, including malolactic fermentation, and sometimes up to thirty-six months.