Domaine de la Noblaie: Vineyards
Domaine de la Noblaie is located on the left bank of the Vienne, on the opposite side to the town of Chinon, a kilometre-or-so upstream. It is naturally tempting to think of the vineyards on this side of the river as all being north-facing, lying on the limestone côte that runs down to the alluvial plain of the river. The topography is naturally more complicated than that, especially closer to the top of the côte. Domaine de la Noblaie sits on one side of a shallow valley which runs roughly south-west away from the Vienne, and many of the vines sit below the château, on a gentle south-facing slope. The image below shows a morning mist gathered in this tiny valley, at sunrise shortly before harvest was about to kick off, during the last few days of September 2016.
The domaine sits directly on a seam of limestone known locally as tuffeau jaune, from the Upper Turonian, while lower down the slope towards the Vienne there is a broader seam of tuffeau blanc, limestone from the Middle Turonian. All the domaine’s vines are on limestone with clay, says Jérôme Billard, with none on the lesser sandy terroirs of the appellation.
Please log in to continue reading: