Domaine de la Taille aux Loups: Wines
The obsession exhibited by Jacky and now Jean-Philippe Blot in the vineyard continues into the cellar with the vinification; Jacky never shied away from appropriate research into the use of oak, particularly using barrels made from various sources, different forests and different coopers. As a result of his work for many years almost all of the wines at La Taille aux Loups have been fermented in wood, either in barrique, demi-muid or even large foudres. No doubt Jean-Philippe will continue with this philosophy.
Jacky always said that oak was one of the ideal materials for fermentation vessels, but he never actively sought oak as a quality within the wines. For this reason the domaine relies strongly on older oak barrels for fermentation and élevage. For reasons of hygiene (the older oak is, the more likely it is to be contaminated by malevolent microorganisms) barrels that reach ten years of age are renewed. Thus in any given vintage, 10% of the barrels at the domaine are new. This does not, however, equate to the use of 10% new oak throughout the domaine. Those wines intended for drinking younger, and which are likely to be opened very soon after sale, go into older oak. The blended entry-level wines from Montlouis-sur-Loire and Vouvray are vinified in oak barrels that have seen out four, five or six vintages. Hence all these wines go into the bottle having been minimally marked by oak, if at all, and are ready for drinking.
