La Tour Saint-Martin, 2023 Update
One of the most memorable visits I made in the Loire Valley was to La Tour Saint-Martin, to meet and tasted with Bertrand Minchin.
Catching sign of the domaine for the first time, it did not immediately inspire confidence, as this is not the glossy magazine image of viticulture and winemaking. There is no gently rolling blanket of vines, no ancient stone-built hilltop cabanes, no photogenic windswept trees atop a vertiginous slope planted to Sauvignon Blanc. Or Menu Pineau. Or indeed any other vaguely cool variety you fancy. Instead, I found the domaine situated in an open and almost featureless expanse of wheat fields, dotted with pockets of ancient woodland.
Inside my findings were perhaps more what you would expect. Cuves tightly packed in the cramped cellars, and barrels piled high. Together Bertrand and I tasted a range of cuvées and vintages, from bracing young Sauvignon from barrel, to old Pinot Noir from bottle. And by ‘old’ I mean fifteen-to-twenty years, an age not to be sniffed at; after all, this is Menetou-Salon, not Meursault or Gevrey-Chambertin. In short, the wines were fabulous, fresh in their youth, (both white and red), but with the ability to develop positively with age (again, both white and red).
I was already a fan of the domaine before I visited, but I left forever signed up to the Minchin-Menetou combo.
For this reason I always try to make time for Minchin (this could be a new catchphrase). And so I was delighted to be able to check out the most recent and forthcoming releases with Bertrand earlier this year.
