Domaine du Moulin, 2015 Update

I have the feeling that Cheverny is one of those appellations almost designed to confuse. The little towns of Cheverny and Cour-Cheverny are located in the Viticole Sologne, an obscure backwater of the Loire details of which you will only find in the most detailed of wine books. The wines of Cheverny are blends, whereas the vast majority of the Loire’s most famous appellations, Sancerre, Vouvray, Chinon, Muscadet and others, are all monovarietal (actually this isn’t strictly true, as many allow for accessory varieties, e.g. Menu Pineau in Vouvray, Cabernet Sauvignon in Chinon, but most growers officially stick to one variety). And unexpected varieties crop up in these Cheverny blends; Chardonnay, for example, and Malbec, better known in these parts as Côt. And they are wines that you have to go out of your way to discover, to taste, and understand.

Despite this almost predestined obscurity, in the past year or two I have discovered some very memorable wines in Cheverny. Some were cerebral and savoury. Some were fascinating and distinctive. Others were just deliciously gluggable. Whatever their character, I have come to realise that it is not just the unique and rather regal Romorantin wines of Cour-Cheverny that merit my attention as Cheverny, the poor cousin next-door, can be no less worthy. And so this year, after getting to grips with the wines of Michel Gendrier at Domaine des Huards, Michel Quenouix at Domaine de Veilloux and Laura Semeria at Domaine de Montcy, I was glad to be able to revisit the wines of Hervé Villemade (pictured above), of Domaine du Moulin.

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