Le Clos Galerne, 2024 Update
All wine regions change over time. It is inevitable that as vignerons age, they look to retire, and perhaps hand over the reins to a son or daughter. I have seen this transition take place at a number of domaines dotted up and down the Layon in recent years, not infrequently to the benefit of the wines. It is not that the older generation were in any way subpar, but with new ideas – perhaps with a more formal education, and a stint or two in foreign cellars – and a more modern approach to both viticulture and fermentation the quality can still be pushed up a notch or two.
In some cases, however, a region takes on a novel form as new arrivals flood in. This is an equally important part of the revitalisation we have seen along the Layon. Domaines that had essentially been mothballed have been brought back to life, vineyards which only a few years ago gave fruit to the local co-operative are now worshipped for the quality of their wines, and tired, disused cellars given new purpose. Or, in the case of one or two domaines, new ‘statement’ cellars have been built (or the plans drawn up, at least).
One of these newcomers to the banks of the Layon is Cédric Bourez, who cut his winemaking teeth in Provence before relocating to St-Lambert-du-Lattay back in 2018. We first met in early 2020, when he poured his wines under the name of his domaine, Le Clos Galerne. That was my last tasting in the region for a long time, as a few weeks later the Covid-19 travel restrictions brought travel and tasting to a halt, and it would be 2022 before I had the opportunity to visit Cédric in his cellars, and to tour his vineyards including Les Rouannières, where Cédric stopped to help out with some impromptu tractor repairs (using that precision tool, the sledge hammer, as pictured below).
