Vine Revival, 2020 Update
The Vine Revival project was made real in 2014 with the release of the inaugural vintage of Terre de Gneiss. The brainchild of Christelle Guibert and Vincent Caillé (pictured) of Domaine Le Fay d’Homme, the concept was simple yet inspired; first, take 1 hectare of vines, owned by Christelle but tended by Vincent (with some help from Christelle) using solely organic methods, pick the fruit by hand (not as common as you might imagine in Muscadet, but many of the top vignerons stick with it), press it and vinify the juice in a 16-hectolitre concrete egg. Then, using Christelle’s expert knowledge of the wine scene particularly in London, sell it – in magnums, wherever possible – to some of the best wine addresses going.
It helps, of course, that the wine was of excellent quality, not entirely unexpected with Vincent standing at the press. And to add interest, the range has recently expanded so that there is now another cuvée, first released in the 2017 vintage. This is the Terre de Gabbro, sourced not from a single parcel of vines like its gneiss cousin, but from seven (yes, that’s right, seven, provided I heard Vincent correctly) distinct and diminutive parcels of vines. As regular readers might recall I am a sucker for the gabbro style, and so it was a joy to revisit this cuvée earlier this year, as well as check out the 2018 Terre de Gneiss for the first time.
The Wines
The 2018 Terre de Gneiss is now in bottle, and has been since December 2019, after a fairly standard vinification and élevage in cement egg. Fragrant and musky, the benevolent character of this warmer vintage comes through in the fruit, with its perfumed apricot and orange notes. And while it might not have the rapier thrust that a somewhat cooler season may have brought, it does have an attractive core of acidity and a sense of balance which is admirable for the vintage.
