Domaine Richou: Wines
Pretty much the entire harvest was picked by hand, in tries as required for the sweet wines, but also for the dry wines, Chenin Blanc tending to benefit from picking in tries for optimal ripeness. Once the fruit arrived at the cellars at Chauvigné the sorting and fermentation depended on the cuvée in question, as described below. As noted on previous pages, this profile is largely historical, relating to the cuvées made under the Richou family. The portfolio today, sold under the name Terra Vita Vinum, differs in a number of respects.
There were two principal white cuvées, both Anjou Blanc. The first was Chauvigné, and as the rather generic name suggests it was sourced from more than one site around the village. Approximately two-thirds of the fruit originated from Les Violettes, while the remaining one-third came from the vines in Les Rogeries. The fruit was harvested in two tries, and after sorting the vinification took place mostly in stainless steel vat, although perhaps 20% of the crop was vinified in older barrels. There was no encouragement of malolactic fermentation, and so the resulting style was clean and bright.
The second Anjou Blanc of note was Les Rogeries, and clearly this was sourced from the vineyard of the same name. As with the larger-volume Chauvigné cuvée the harvest was achieved with two tries, the vinification here in barrique rather than vat. The wine saw no malolactic fermentation again, and the élevage lasted between 12 and 18 months before bottling.
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