Domaine Ogereau Vent de Spilite Anjou 2024
Domaine Ogereau Vent de Spilite Anjou
Region: Loire, France
Vintage: 2024
Bottle size: 75cl
Grape: Chenin Blanc
ABV: 12%
The 'Vent de Spilite' is a precise and elegant Chenin. On the nose aromas of bright citrus fruits are complemented by subtle hints of freshly cut grass. Chiselled on the palate with great tension and a marked minerality.
The ‘Vent de Spilite’ hails from the famous dark soils of ‘Anjou Noir’ to the west of the appellation. 'Spilite’, a volcanic rock formed when basaltic lava met seawater, is found around the village of Beaulieu sur Layon. These shallow stony soils and the exposure to the prevailing winds of these hillside vineyards produce a Chenin characterised by great tension and minerality. Emmanuel puts a big emphasis on increasing the organic matter of the soils, working with cover crops, ploughing between the vine rows and grazing a herd of sheep in the vineyards over the winter. Frost and botrytis are common in the Layon Valley, so the vines here are trained high on trellises to encourage airflow.
Upon arrival at the winery, the early-harvested Chenin was rigorously sorted to ensure that no botrytised berries made it into the winery. The bunches were then whole bunch pressed, with the first and last of the press juice discarded as Emmanuel believes that Chenin grown on darker soils can have an overly phenolic character if not handled carefully. Fermentation with indigenous yeasts took place in a mixture of used 400-litre oak barrels, Stockinger foudres and terracotta amphorae. Malolactic fermentation was blocked to preserve the wine’s linear precision and minerality. After five months ageing on the lees, the final blend was assembled, filtered and bottled.
Emmanuel Ogereau, the dynamic young winemaker at the helm of Domaine Ogereau, is fast gaining a reputation for his precise, elegant and bone-dry Chenin Blanc. Having studied viticulture and oenology and gained winemaking experience in Central Otago and Oregon, Emmanuel returned to the family domaine in 2014. With the blessing of his father Vincent, he has taken the domaine in a new direction. In the vineyards, he has led the conversion to becoming both organic (certified since 2019) and biodynamic (certified since 2024). While in the winery, he has switched the focus from the sweet and red wines for which his father was renowned, to dry, site-specific Chenin