Domaine aux Moines, 2023 Update
I think the first time I tasted the wines of Domaine aux Moines may have been at the sadly now-defunct RSJ restaurant in London. Or maybe it was a few bottles I purchased off their list. The one consistent feature the wines had going for them was value, although to be frank they were far from the most exciting examples of the appellation. Putting them away in the cellar for a decade provided evidence of their durability, but I never found them to develop any interest with maturity. They survived, but did not evolve.
When the proprietor’s daughter Tessa Laroche took over, however, all this changed. And quickly. Domaine aux Moines is now one of the most exciting domaines in the Savennières arena (I phrase it like that as this domaine does not have the Savennières appellation, it has the superior Savennières Roche-aux-Moines appellation, which was signed off in 2015; as you can tell I am wearing my well-worn pedant’s hat this morning). As such I never miss an opportunity to taste with Tessa, and I consider her wines to be no less interesting than some of the region’s most renowned names, including Thibaud Boudignon, Eric Morgat and Damien Laureau.
In this report I check out recent and forthcoming releases of Tessa’s Savennières Roche-aux-Moines, including the 2020 vintage in which she has produced two cuvées, alongside her forthcoming release of the delightful Berceau des Fées cuvée, which is essentially a young-vines Savennières (yes, I did have to take my pedant’s hat off to write that).
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