François Chidaine Les Tuffeaux Montlouis 2017

Les Tuffeaux is François Chidaine's off-dry Montlouis, a tendre style carrying roughly fifteen to twenty grams of residual sugar rather than a fully dry Chenin.

Montlouis-sur-Loire occupies the strip of land between the Loire and the Cher, opposite Vouvray, working the same grape on the same soft tuffeau limestone beneath a cap of clay and flint. François Chidaine is the second generation here; he worked with his father Yves before setting up on his own in 1989, and has since built a holding of about thirty hectares in Montlouis and across the river in Vouvray, much of it Chenin Blanc between forty and eighty years old. He farms organically and biodynamically and has moved towards no-till work with permanent cover crops to keep the soil's fungal networks intact. Les Tuffeaux is blended from several sites, including Clos du Volagray and Saint-Martin, off vines of thirty to seventy years, picked in successive passes and left with a little natural sweetness.

Approachable young and capable of ageing for a decade or more. Serve at 10–12°C with pork rillettes, a mildly spiced curry or a blue cheese.

*Every effort is made to ensure the current vintage is accurate; however, variations can occur. If you are after a specific vintage, please contact us prior to ordering.