Domaine aux Moines: Vineyards
The Domaine aux Moines covers more than 12 hectares, and although a few years ago barely 9 hectares were in production, today the domaine is clos to fully planted. Bearing in mind the entire Savennières Roche-aux-Moines appellation has only about 35 hectares, this means the domaine today accounts for more than one third of it, making it a very significant estate in a very prestigious appellation. As noted in my introduction the château sits uphill of the Château de la Roche aux Moines, which is nothing to do with this estate or the Laroche family, but which is in the ownership of Nicolas Joly. Around it there are formal gardens, from the bottom of which there leads the ancient tree-lined path down towards the old Cistercian monastery which sits at the foot of the Clos de la Coulée de Serrant. Beyond the gardens are the Laroche vineyards, all of which sit within the Savennières Roche-aux-Moines appellation.
The soils underfoot are complex, being dotted with areas of spilite and other rock types but in the main they are schist of the Unite de Saint-Georges, and the vines are predominantly Chenin Blanc, this variety accounting for 11 hectares of planting, with perhaps 8 hectares aged more than forty years. Another few hectares were planted very recently, during the past decade, replacing parcels which were very old, over eighty years in some cases.
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