Philippe Delesvaux: Vineyards
Philippe and Catherine Delesvaux’s vineyards today amount to around 10.7 hectares, and these vines largely sit next to the cellars, just outside La Haie Longue. As I have already hinted this is a perfect environment for botrytis, and so we should not be surprised that a number of other well-known domaines are located nearby. Just a little further round the loop of the Layon, near Ardenay, is where Patrick Baudouin can be found, while in the opposite direction near Les Barres is where Château de la Genaiserie and Domaine des Forges are located. Domaine Cady, meanwhile, is a very short distance away, albeit on the other bank of the Layon.
The terroir here is typical of the Coteaux du Layon appellation, the vineyards planted on a broad seam of schist, sandstone and conglomerates, with patches of coal in parts, the seam running roughly parallel with the course of the Layon (very roughly – the river does undertake some broad, meandering loops here). There is also a streak of pierre carrée running through the vineyard, a form of rhyolite which has a tendency to fracture into regular square-shaped blocks. All these rocks are either igneous or metamorphic and are therefore typical of the vineyards of western Anjou, and of the Massif Armoricain in general.
Please log in to continue reading: