Château de l’Aulée
The Loire Valley has a long-established track record of sparkling wine production. The famous houses of Saumur, such as Langlois-Chateau and Bouvet-Ladubay, turn out an inordinate number of bottles every year, making this region the second biggest producer of sparkling wine in the world, after Champagne itself of course. These houses have focused on sparkling wine and often produce dozens of different cuvées, the few vins tranquilles they produce being something of an afterthought. Elsewhere along the banks of the Loire, however, sparkling wine is not so predominant.
It is easy to find of course, especially around Vouvray, but here – as the case with Crémant de Loire and other sparkling appellations – the best wines tend to form just one small part of a portfolio, as we might find with Vincent Carême or François Chidaine, for example. It is in fact quite rare to find a quality-orientated estate focusing exclusively or mainly on sparkling wine outside of the famous houses of Saumur. Nevertheless, Château d’Aulée – located very close to Azay-le-Rideau, in Touraine – is one such domaine.
History
The domaine was established in the mid-19th century by the Cordier family, Bordeaux négociants perhaps best associated in more recent times with Château Talbot and Château Gruaud-Larose. It was they that constructed the château here, in 1856, which perhaps explains its rather formal appearance (pictured); it would not look out of place if it were picked up and transplanted to a Bordeaux commune on the edge of the Gironde, especially Pauillac or St Julien.
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