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Domaines Minchin Valençay Le Claux Delorme 2020

The Touraine region is rich in peripheral, somewhat obscure and too easily overlooked appellations, but as with all viticultural outposts a willingness to strike out into these uncharted territories can pay dividends. The appellations of Jasnières, the Coteaux du Loir, Haut-Poitou, Cheverny and Cour-Cheverny have many and varied merits, from the ultra-high quality wines of Eric Nicolas in the first of this list, to the sui generis Romorantin in the last.

Another to add to this roll call is Valençay, an appellation centred around the town of the same name. Located on the border between two ancient French provinces, Touraine to the west, and Berry to the east, both of which were carved up during the course of the French Revolution, Valençay sits south of the Cher, some distance from the Touraine vineyards of Cheverny and Cour-Cheverny. Sitting atop a low hill, the town is dominated by the dramatic Château de Valençay, a property of palatial proportions.

Château de Valençay is perhaps best known as the home of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754 – 1838), more commonly known simply as Talleyrand, who also owned Haut-Brion for a while. Acting on behalf of Napoleon, who he served as foreign minister, Talleyrand acquired the estate in 1803; here he would welcome (and occasionally imprison, depending on the whims of the Emperor) foreign dignitaries. The period of his occupancy was a golden age for the property, and given that he and his chef were prone to throwing sumptuous feasts it is almost certain that Talleyrand’s patronage fostered the development of the vineyard in this otherwise distant corner of the Loire Valley. Indeed, during Talleyrand’s time there were 10 hectares of vines planted on the Valençay estate itself.

Domaines Minchin Valençay Le Claux Delorme 2020

Viticulture persisted and by the latter years of the 19th century, before phylloxera struck, the banks of the Nahon (which flows beneath the château and which drains into the Fouzon, which itself joins the Cher) were blanketed with vines, as described by the physician, agronomist and viticulturist Jules Guyot (1807 – 1872) in Étude des Vignobles de France (L’Imprimerie Impériale, second edition, 1876). After the louse had swept through the region however, the vineyards were decimated.

But they survived

By the mid-20th century the recovery results in a vineyard of just over 100 hectares, and by the time the region ascended to the rank of Vin Délimité de Qualité Supérieure (VDQS) in 1970 – decades after other peripheral appellations such as Cheverny and Cour-Cheverny had made the move – this figure had risen to 130 hectares. The region was upgraded to appellation status in 2004, and today provides a variegated feast of white, rosé and red wines using almost any Ligérian variety you fancy, including Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, Menu Pineau (under the synonym Orbois) and Chardonnay for whites (when a VDQS you could also make use of Romorantin but sadly this was variety was then squeezed out). Reds and rosés are, predictably, blends of Côt, Gamay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and Pineau d’Aunis (the latter for rosé only).

Many of the most notable names in Valençay come here from the north, from Meuses for example, where vines can feed into the Touraine as well as the Valençay appellation. But Valençay’s position on the Touraine-Berry border has drawn in at least one viticulteur from the east, Bertrand Minchin, a name more readily associated with La Tour Saint-Martin and the Menetou-Salon appellation. Under the Domaines Minchin label Bertrand produces several cuvées of Touraine and Valençay, in the case of the latter under the Le Claux Delorme* label.

The 2020 Valençay Rouge Le Claux Delorme from Domaines Minchin is a blend of 45% Gamay, 35% Côt and 10% each Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir. It is bottled beneath an inexpensive agglomerate cork (no, not a DIAM), although happily that doesn’t seem to have done the wine any harm. It presents a deliciously dark, glossy, black cherry hue in the glass, while the nose is dry and filled with savoury character, especially spiced black berry, salty black olive, smoke and toast. It follows up with a cool, juicy and sinewy form on the palate, with a lightly powdery ribbon of tannins wrapped around a core of dark black fruits. Lightly grained, savoury and sappy in the finish, where the powdery tannins add an infusion of grip, this culminates with a lip-smacking sense of moreishness. A delicious and easy-drinking wine from the talented Bertrand Minchin. The alcohol declared on the label is a modest (for such a warm vintage) 13%. 91/100 (2/9/24)

*Le Claux Delorme is now an exclusivity held by a French grocer, so outside of your local Monoprix store look for Bertrand’s Les Mi-Voies and Les Saint-Lazare labels in Valençay. I am sure you will find the wines taste remarkably similar (almost as if they were the same wine, you might say).

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