Pascal Lambert, 2019 Update
Pascal Lambert only put down roots on the slopes of clay and Turonian chalk which sit behind the village of Cravant-les-Coteaux in the late 1980s, he and his wife Béatrice, both from winemaking families, starting out with just 4 hectares of vines. Initially working in a very conventional manner, it was not that long before they began to drift towards more sustainable ways of working. During the mid-1990s they brought the use of herbicides to an end, working the soil instead, or planting cover crops. Full organic certification came in 2005, and today the domaine is fully biodynamic.
The portfolio of wines made is comprehensive, with several white cuvées, and reds ranging from entry-level alluvial wines right up to a cuvée from La Croix Boissée, one of the Chinon appellation’s most coveted lieux-dits. With an increasingly natural bent, Pascal Lambert (pictured) also now produces at least two long-skin-contact wines, in white and red, and of course amphorae – increasingly common up and down the length of the Loire Valley – make an appearance. Quality, especially towards the top end of the portfolio in red, can be considerable, and so I was pleased to be able to catch up with the team here earlier this year, and to be able to check out some of the domaine’s most recent releases.
The Wines
Starting out with a quartet of white wines, all with the Chinon appellation, these were of good character, often with interesting peppery and vigorous elements. It perhaps says something, though, that I enjoyed the 2016 Cuvée Antoine and its unusual (for the appellation) cushion of residual sugar more than its drier peers. Whether it says something about the white wines of Pascal Lambert, or my own personal preferences, is perhaps open to interpretation.
