Domaine De La Taille Aux Loups, Jacky Blot, Brut Tradition
Loire Valley, France NV (750mL)
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Domaine De La Taille Aux Loups, Jacky Blot, Brut Tradition
Most sparkling wines under $25 are billed as affordable ‘alternatives’ to Champagne. The subtext is, ‘Well, it’s not Champagne, but it’s the next best thing’...or something like that. It’s like having a substitute teacher.
But as much as I love Champagne, I would place the Chenin Blanc sparklers of Jacky Blot on the same quality tier. Blot is a beloved figure in the Loire Valley and something of a sensation among in-the-know sommeliers, and it’s not just because he’s a cool guy—his touch with old-vine Chenin Blanc in Montlouis and Vouvray is second to none. This Montlouis “Tradition Brut,” from Jacky’s Domaine de la Taille aux Loups, is a méthode Champenoise sparkler that is every inch an equal to great Champagne, while also striking out in its own distinct and fascinating direction. Putting it side-by-side would be like choosing between two of your children. So don’t. Judge this wine on its own merits, which are considerable, and you may find yourself with a new ‘daily drinker’ to hoard by the case.
Brut Tradition displays a light golden core with small bubbles that slowly traverse its viscous nectar. Incredibly pure and dense aromas of golden apple, Meyer lemon, lemon blossom and a hint of white peach are infused with notes of beeswax, honeysuckle, chamomile, lees, brioche, white mushroom and oyster shells. The rich, round palate delivers intense, bright fruit, brilliant clarity, minerality, and freshness as well as that all-encompassing dynamic of lees and brioche. This wine is just too good to be served too cold. Pull it from the fridge 15 minutes before serving and release the cork to allow the temperature to rise to around 45-50 degrees. Serve in all-purpose stems or open-mouthed champagne flutes—avoid tall, narrow flutes. This wine will sing within fifteen minutes but will perform an even greater tune as the bubbles begin to subside and the wine warms. I encourage you to experience at least one glass this way. Serve alongside this recipe for chanterelle mushrooms, which are just coming into season, with this creamy chicken pasta and be prepared for something truly special.
But as much as I love Champagne, I would place the Chenin Blanc sparklers of Jacky Blot on the same quality tier. Blot is a beloved figure in the Loire Valley and something of a sensation among in-the-know sommeliers, and it’s not just because he’s a cool guy—his touch with old-vine Chenin Blanc in Montlouis and Vouvray is second to none. This Montlouis “Tradition Brut,” from Jacky’s Domaine de la Taille aux Loups, is a méthode Champenoise sparkler that is every inch an equal to great Champagne, while also striking out in its own distinct and fascinating direction. Putting it side-by-side would be like choosing between two of your children. So don’t. Judge this wine on its own merits, which are considerable, and you may find yourself with a new ‘daily drinker’ to hoard by the case.
First off, it’s worth noting that this isn’t a lighter-weight, fizzy style of Chenin (which are very trendy right now) but a fully-sparkling, ‘Champagne method’ wine aged 14 months on its lees. Structurally, it’s on equal footing with a Champagne, but then, of course, Chenin takes things in a more exotic direction: its gripping acidity, rivaled perhaps only by Riesling’s, fires up the salivary glands, while its tart red apple/quince fruit and beeswax texture mingles with a host of smoky, savory sensations that root it in the earth. Chenin Blanc from Montlouis and Vouvray—two key Chenin appellations that sit across the Loire River from one another—is as expressive of its terroir of any grape anywhere, and in Blot’s “Brut Tradition” it shows great mineral depth and varietal purity. It is quite “vinous”—wine-like—by which I mean its effervescence isn’t the whole story. It puts the “wine” in “sparkling wine.”
Jacky Blot started out as a wine broker in the Loire, but in 1989, he acquired several old-vine parcels and began a career as a vigneron, immediately shifting to organic viticulture. He rigorously reduced yields to create Chenin Blanc of exceptional depth and purity, and in the intervening years, he’s come to be considered one of the Loire’s true masters of Chenin Blanc (despite remaining more a cult figure than a household name). Over a quarter century later, Blot’s holdings have increased to 25 hectares in Montlouis and Vouvray, along with 14 more in Bourgueil, from another estate he acquired in 2002.
Brut Tradition hails from his original home base in Montlouis-sur- Loire, where 40- to 80-year-old vines rest on a limestone-rich plateau nestled between the Loire and the Cher Rivers. Grapes are picked by hand as late as possible to achieve ideal phenolic ripeness; Jacky refuses to chaptalize (i.e. add sugar in weak vintages), as many of his neighbors often do. Successive passes are done during harvest by 3-4 meticulous teams per parcel. Clusters are sorted on tables at the end of each row of vineyards to ensure only the most perfect grapes reach the cellar. In the labyrinthine underground cellar in Montlouis, which is carved into limestone cliffs, the grapes are fermented with only native yeasts over the course of 6-10 months in 9-10 year old, neutral Burgundian oak. The wine does not go through malolactic fermentation, which results in laser beam freshness that is paramount to a great sparkling wine. The wine undergoes regular bâtonnage (stirring of lees) and two rackings. After secondary fermentation and the aforementioned 14 months resting on its lees, only the smallest dosage, roughly 3 grams per liter, is added before the final bottling.
