Michel Redde, 2018 Update
A highly regarded domaine in the Pouilly-Fumé appellation, the running of Michel Redde today falls to the brothers Sébastien (pictured below) and Romain Redde, the 14th generation of the Redde family to tend vines here. They have gradually taken over from their father Thierry, who was Michel Redde’s son. The domaine is situated not far from Les Loges, on the right bank of the Loire downstream of Pouilly-sur-Loire, where the appellation’s Kimmeridgian limestones and marls give way to Portlandian limestones. Nearby, on the other side of the autoroute which bisects the appellation, there sits St-Andélain, and its famous cap of flint. Perhaps it was inevitable that the domaine’s discrete portfolio of wines would be so focused on the region’s main terroirs.
The latest addition to their range is Barre à Mine, from a vineyard established in an old flint quarry, and a wine which seems to have captured the imagination of wine scribes beyond the usual Loire-obsessed crowd (by which I mean me). It’s quality was immediately apparent when I first tasted the 2014, the inaugural vintage. It is, perhaps, a good introduction to the appellation, especially for those looking to dive straight into the deep end of Pouilly-Fumé, those interested in only the very best wines, worthy of drinking but also of cellaring.
This cuvée should not also be the end of such a search, however, as the Redde family have long taken advantage of their central location to produce a range of terroir-driven cuvées. There is no Oxfordian cuvée, but there are examples from Portlandian limestone, namely Les Champs des Billons, from Kimmeridgian marl, in the shape of Les Cornets, and from flint, the cuvée Les Bois de Saint-Andélain. These cuvées all predate Barre à Mine, and all are very fine examples of the appellation, and they too are worth seeking out.
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