Domaine Aux Moines - Savennières Roche Aux Moines 2019

The unicorn hunt sometimes inevitably leads to bycatch. One can then accuse dealers or winemakers of using the madness surrounding the rarer bottles to get rid of slow-sellers or to sell the estate wine. And sure, every now and then there are wines included that make you think afterwards that you could have done without the unicorn, because you now have five bottles of mulled wine potential or cooking wine in the cellar. But then you might only buy from them once. Sometimes, however, the packages are also used to ensure that bottles that otherwise fly under the radar at least catch some of the spotlight. And this is precisely what has led me, at least, in recent years to buy only the bycatch in the following vintage. That saves your nerves and usually benefits your wallet too.

One such bottle of bycatch is this Chenin Blanc from Domaine Aux Moines, which turned up here in a case along with a bottle of Bernaudeau. The history of the vineyard begins as early as the twelfth century, when monks began to cultivate wine here. The winery today, however, is a few hundred years younger. The family of the current winemaker, Tessa Laroche, bought the estate in 1981, Tessa joined in 2001, and finally took over the helm completely in recent years. Until a few years ago, there was also a red wine, but its vines had to make way. Today, the entire twelve hectares of the domaine are planted with Chenin Blanc. The Roche aux Moines vineyard site surrounding the winery is located slightly northeast of the village of Savennières, almost directly on the right bank of the Loire. Significantly better known, and thus helpful for geographic orientation, is likely the direct neighboring site Coulée de Serrant from neighbor Nicolas Joly. The oldest vines in the vineyard, around 45 years old on average, go into this wine. The vineyards are farmed organically and are harvested by hand. The wine is aged for a year in various wooden barrels and is then allowed to mature for another half year.

It smells very typically of Chenin. Some quince, stony minerality, a bit austere at the start with cereal and a touch of nail polish remover. So far, so normal. Until you taste it. Even the tiniest trial sip has an unbelievably good structure. It is nutty, stony, rolls in harmlessly and then, as soon as it reaches the mid-palate, it grabs hold powerfully. It’s truly incredibly good, and with every single sip. It remains nutty, has spice, earth, some smoke, fruit, first pulling at the tongue and cheeks until your mouth waters and more and more yellow fruit slowly builds up. It has so much aromatic depth, juiciness, freshness and is at the same time incredibly difficult to grasp or capture. I am thrilled. What happens between the first moment on the tongue and swallowing is simply magnificent.

The nose is surprisingly stable and actually unchanged the next day. Perhaps a little more austere, a bit more waxy and pithy, almost without fruit. But I’m not really interested in that, because I want to know if it still tastes the same as on the first day. And yes. First harmless and then, two moments later, the brutal structure grabs you again. Salty, nutty, almost viscous in between, only to then become really creamy and ultimately dive off with juicy freshness. At least if you can wait long enough between sips, because the wine has time, a lot of time. Let’s not kid ourselves. This is a bit of a nerd’s wine and not something I would put on the table at Christmas. No matter with which family. It is quite uncompromising, a little bit wild, it provokes, pulls, demands, eludes any attempt to grasp it, and then creamily caresses your cheek. I stand by it: Simply magnificent. And I really don’t want to have to estimate how much longer this could age. In any case, there’s no trace of maturity.

Throughout the entire evening, this wine remains a fascination. At no point do you feel you can really get a handle on it. This is one of those wines that slips through your fingers with every sip, you have a word on the tip of your tongue, a taste in the back of your mind, a memory. But only there, in the back of your mind. Then you take a sip and look helplessly across the table and see the same, sometimes bewildered, expression on the other person’s face. And the same enthusiasm. This is one of those wines. One of the wines that makes me write down what it tasted like, just to be able to return here again. Crazy that this was the bycatch. Because this Chenin doesn’t have to hide from anything at all. Simply one of those wines. Fascinating.

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