Philippe Pollet Vouvray Clos de Nouys Moelleux 1981
Vouvray is rich in hallowed sites and favoured vineyards and yet today many of them languish in obscurity. Unlike your average Burgundy village where every terroir of note is christened a premier or grand cru, mapped out and appropriately worshipped, many of Vouvray’s leading vineyards remain almost unknown. For every exulted Clos du Bourg, Clos Baudouin or Clos les Girardières there is an overlooked Clos des Barguains, Clos du Bois or Clos Saint-Mathurin.
Many of these vineyards first gained notoriety several centuries ago when the vineyards of the Loire Valley were being actively developed with the support of Flemish merchants. These merchants sailed upstream, exploring the Loire and its many tributaries, including the Maine and Sèvre Nantaise, the Layon, the Vienne and the Loir. It was with their patronage that the vineyards of Muscadet, the Coteaux du Layon, Chinon and Vouvray grew to such sizes.
From at least the 15th century many if not the majority of the wines made in Vouvray and its environs were being shipped north to Flanders. As soon as the new vintage was ready for tasting local brokers would tour the region’s cellars, striking deals on the best wines. Once they had made their selections the wines would be shipped to Nantes and then transferred to seagoing vessels for export to Amsterdam, Rotterdam and other suitable ports. The barrels in which the wines were fermented and shipped would be branded with hot irons, the mark made indicating the vineyard of origin. In doing so those sites which regularly turned out the best wines developed some renown; Clos de Nouys was one such vineyard.
Sadly, over the past century knowledge of many of these vineyards seems to have slipped from the region’s collective consciousness. A number can easily be “rediscovered” with the help of cadastral maps, which will tell you exactly where to find the likes of Clos Chaillemont, Clos des Thierrières and Clos des Bidaudières, among others. A number of them are rather more anonymous though, and to locate them you need to do a little sleuthing, or perhaps recruit a local vigneron in the know.
The Clos de Nouys was one of the more highly regarded vineyard sites, as listed (under the name Clos de Nouis) by onetime mayor of Vouvray and local vigneron Charles Vavasseur, writing in Le Touraine et Ses Vins (Société Française d’Imprimerie et de Librairie, 1933). There are few clues to its location today other than the presence of the Val de Nouys, a small valley which runs in a north-easterly direction behind the town of Vouvray itself.
At the entrance to the valley, on the north side, sits one of the modern-day appellation’s most renowned vineyards, the Clos Baudouin; continue along the slope and you come to the lieux-dits of La Chatterie and Sur La Chatterie, and it is within them that we find the Clos de Nouys. Once in the possession of the renowned vigneron Maurice Audebert, and after him Philippe Pollet, today the vines are worked by François Chainier of Domaine Chainier, a vigneron-négociant working principally with vineyards along the banks of the Cher (but the Chainier family, through their négoce activities, operate in dozens of Loire appellations).
I can’t say I have ever found the motivation to explore the range of wines churned out under the various Chainier labels, so my encounters with the modern-day wines of the Clos de Nouys are non-existent, and this weekend’s wine hails from the Pollet era. If the name seems familiar, apart from the fact I mentioned it above it may be because I also featured the 1983 Vouvray Sec from Philippe sometime last year.
In the glass the 1981 Vouvray Clos de Nouys Moelleux from Philippe Pollet displays a polished, orange-gold hue, appropriate for a moelleux cuvée with a little bottle age. The nose feels reminiscent of dry toast, with a little touch of honeyed almond and a frisson of caramelisation, otherwise the aromatics suggest a rather reserved and perhaps drier style than the moelleux designation might suggest. The palate is modestly textured, taut and sinewy rather than generous, with themes of blanched almond, baked orange, black tea leaf and crushed oyster shell, and as the nose hints this is set in a rather dry and grainy substance rather than anything sweet, supported by a firm acid backbone. The fruit is a touch sour, there is some lemony acidity at the end, and it concludes in a short finish. This appears to be drying out, but it retains a degree of complexity, and it works well as long as this drier build is accounted for. Note that the label provides no details on alcohol concentration (which was a legal requirement introduced after 1987) or even the volume within the bottle. 88/100 (15/7/24)
Read more in:
- My guide to Chenin Blanc
- A guide to the wines of Vouvray
- An exploration of some exemplar Vouvray vineyards
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