Patrick Baudouin 2015 "Les Cornillard", Anjou Blanc, Loire Valley, France

Patrick Baudouin 2015 "Les Cornillard", Anjou Blanc, Loire Valley

The domaine is certified organic. In the cellar Patrick “gives birth to  wines, (he does) not fabricate them.” He uses indigenous yeast  fermentation, eschewing chaptalization, and adding only very small doses  of sulfur. Patrick has received considerable recognition in France as  one of the new stars for Côteaux du Layon and Quarts de Chaume. His is  the only Loire Valley wine to be included in legendary French collector  Michel Chasseuil’s ‘100 Vintage Treasures.’ 
Domaine Patrick Baudouin  comprises 13 hectares of vineyards on the great terroirs of the Anjou  Noir, the Black Anjou named after the dark-colored ancient rocks of the  Massif Armoricain. They cover the eastern arm of France and are the  remnants of the once mighty Hercynian mountain range. These eroded  ancient rocks are a cocktail of granites, shale, schist, tuffs (volcanic  ash, not tuffeau), hard coal, sandstone, and quartzite.

 As of autumn 2016 this vineyard is plowed by horse.

• Size: 0.80 ha (1.98 ac)
• Variety: Chenin Blanc 
• Vine Age: Planted  between the 1940s and the 1960s
• Terroir: On southeast-facing hill that slopes down to the Layon river, shallow soil with shale bedrock
• Viticulture: Certified organic (Ecocert)
• Vinification:  Slow, gentle pressing, indigenous yeast fermentation through spring and  aged on fine lees in Burgundian oak barrels (little to no new oak). No  SO/sub> added until first fining.