Laurent Herlin: Vineyards
Laurent Herlin is based in Le Plessis. Along with the vineyards of La Taille this is a curious island of vines located on a rise in the land much closer to the waters of the Loire than the rest of the Bourgueil and St Nicolas de Bourgueil vineyards, which sit on the gravel terraces and limestone côtes to the north. After starting with the purchased fruit of 1 hectare of vines Laurent Herlin had at his apogee 6 hectares to work with, divided between three parcels.
The principal parcel is at Les Champs Colesses, just 2 kilometres from Laurent’s farmhouse domaine in Chouzé-sur-Loire, where the soils are sandy-gravelly. Here Laurent acquired 1.3 hectares of vines, although initially only 0.8 hectares were planted; Laurent planted the remaining land himself, largely with Cabernet Franc, although he did also establish three rows of Chenin Blanc here. In addition, Laurent also acquired two tiny parcels northeast of the town of Bourgueil, very close to the village of Marcé. These parcels account for just 0.27 hectares of the Bourgueil vineyard, with sandy soils over deeper limestone. Finally, the third parcel was the largest; Laurent rented 4.2 hectares in the Clos de la Gaucherie. This quite beautiful clos lies on the outskirts of Restigné, very close to Château de Minière, and it gave Laurent some valuable soils of clay and limestone to work with. Sadly, with the rationalisation of the domaine after recent frosted vintages, Laurent finished renting these vines after the 2017 vintage, which has curtailed his portfolio. Today he works only with vines he owns, the totality of his vineyard coming close to just 2 hectares.
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