DOMAINE DU BOUCHOT - Terres Blanches 2021

91/100 James Suckling - Apple and fresh hay on the nose.
Medium body with more citrusy and stony flavours and a touch of dry-mineral grip at the end. A tidy white with lots of mineral influence that gives a harder feel to it this year.

Vines for this vintage were sourced from several plots, such as Les Champs du Roin Haut et Bas, La Côte des Prés, Les Déserts, Domaine du Bouchot, Les Champs Frisés, Les Genièvres, Les Bascoins, and Les Champs de la Croix, and averaged 45 years in age.

100% Sauvignon Blanc sourced from 30-40 year old vines. Fermenting with natural yeast, the grapes are pressed and left to age on their lees for 6 months in stainless steel tanks. Showcasing an elegant expression of this varietal, aromatics are marked by citrus, lime, and flint character, with hints of white pepper. The palate is driven by lemon and lime, interwoven with gooseberry flavours.

On the right bank of the Loire Valley they champion Sauvignon Blanc in their wines. The domaine has been biodynamically certified since 2009, allowing Antoine to step into a vineyard that shares his beliefs already. Being the first domaine to be certified Organic in the Pouilly-Fumé appellation, Antoine continued to push biodiversity and the correlation to the Lunar calendar to achieve Biodynamic certification soon after he took over.

There are 3 key wines of DOMAINE DU BOUCHOT, with all the grapes spread across nearly 15 hectares around Pouilly-Fumé. Parcels of Caillottes and Terres Blanches are the key two plots, with the third wine MCMLV also being from the Terres Blanches plot but only picked from the old vines bringing more depth to the bottle.

The Pouilly-Fumé appellation dates all the way back to 1937, when it was first established as "Blanc Fumé de Pouilly". At the same time, the village's wines made with Chasselas grapes were given the Pouilly-sur-Loire title. The Pouilly-Fumé name is actually a combination of two parts: 'Pouilly' is short for Pouilly-sur-Loire, the village of origin, and 'Fumé' is an affectionate nickname for Sauvignon Blanc. It's no wonder it often gets confused with the Burgundian Pouilly-Fuissé, a Chardonnay-based wine. 

The famous Pouilly-Fumé viticultural region covers seven parishes on the right bank of the Loire River - from Mesves-sur-Loire down south to Saint-Martin-sur-Nohain up north. Despite its Burgundian location, it's still a quintessentially 'Loire Valley' delicacy!