Michel Redde, 2017 Update
One of the leading domaines of Pouilly-Fumé, Michel Redde is now firmly in the hands of Michel’s grandsons, Sébastien and Romain, who began working here with their father Thierry in 2003 and 2005 respectively. Thierry is increasingly enjoying a well-earned retirement, and at this recent tasting it was as usual the two brothers who presented the wines.
Despite the handover of responsibility, the wines here remain of high quality, and the portfolio has also expanded slightly with the addition of Barre à Mine, a cuvée made from the fruit of vines planted in an old quarry of superficial flint over a deeper flint bedrock. It is basically a terroir of rocks on rocks, with little material that one could call soil. So reluctant was the ‘soil’ to excavation, the vines were planted with the assistance of dynamite.
The Wines
Sébastien Redde (pictured), who owns the best spectacles in the entire Loire Valley, poured a selection of wines, some of which were new to me and some of which I have tasted before, but it was useful to revisit them now they have moved from cuve into bottle, or after an extra year or two of bottle age.
