La Tour Saint-Martin: Vineyards
The domaine is located in the upper reaches of the Loire Valley (the main viticultural section, anyway – I am aware there is a lot more river upstream, and that there are vines up there too). Somewhat confusingly, although Albane and Bertrand Minchin have 17 hectares of vines in Menetou-Salon to their name, there are absolutely none to be seen around their domaine, which is to be found situated east of Bourges, hidden from the road by a small copse of trees. A quick survey of the landscape here reveals only flat and fairly featureless farmland, planted to arable crops, the only relief provided by the occasional small plot of managed woodland.
Bourges is not really known as a wine town, so perhaps the paucity of vines here shouldn’t be such a surprise. The vineyards of Menetou-Salon are located about 30 kilometres north of La Tour Saint-Martin, close to those of Sancerre, this distant location a consequence of the fact that the Minchin family’s main interest was originally arable farming rather than viticulture. The vines run in a fairly narrow band between Pigny to the south-west and Humbligny to the north-east. As already described, however, Bertrand and Albane also own vines to the west, in Valençay, a Touraine appellation. I will look at each in turn.
The soils in Menetou-Salon are typically clay over Kimmeridgian marl and limestone, which runs in a fairly narrow strip here, more recent sandy clays to the north, older Oxfordian limestones to the south. These ancient sedimentary rocks are part of the Bassin Parisien, the same vast expanse of limestone that expands eastwards beneath Sancerre, Chablis and the southern parts of Champagne.
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