Pierre Ménard: Vineyards
Visiting Pierre in 2019 we set out from the house on a tour of his 2.5 hectares of vines, stopping first after just a few minutes behind the wheel, at Le Quart des Noëls. It was a journey we repeated during my more recent visits.
“This is my garden”, joked Pierre as we checked out the soils and vines, a reference to the fact he started out with just 0.2 hectares of Chenin Blanc here. His parents bought this parcel, which comprises just seven rows of vines in Les Noëls, opposite Domaine des Noëls, in 2000. These are venerable old pieds (one pictured below) including some which are close to one-hundred years old; there are a few young vines, about 20 years old, but the majority date to the 1920s.
They are planted in deep soils over schist. “These vines predate the widespread planting of clones in the region, and will have been propagated by sélection massale from local vines,” Pierre told me, “and as such they represent the genetic heritage of Chenin Blanc in the region. They have good diversity,” he continued, “some with small bunches, while others have large bunches – you can see the maturity differs from one vine to the next. It adds new layers of expression to the wine.”
