Domaine aux Moines
Producer web site
ABOUT DOMAINE AUX MOINES:
Domaine Aux Moines is run by Monique and Tessa Laroche, who, as a mother and daughter team, are a bit of an unusual configuration, especially when it comes to owning and running an old respected wine estate. Of course many of us suspect that for many more Chateaux, it's the women who really are running things, in the case of Domaine Aux Moines there is no question. The Laroches are fond of saying "Wine is a feminine word. And in our case, it's also plural."
Mmes. Laroche preside over an estate that is unusual for more reasons than its femininity. For starters, they occupy one of the lesser known sub-appellations of the Savennieres known as Roche Aux Moines. Savennieres is not a large appellation to begin with, occupying about 350 acres in total, and the Roche Aux Moines sub-appellation is a mere eighty or so acres of that. Of those eighty acres, the Laroches own and work nearly twenty of them. The estate property is on some of the highest ground of this appellation, with soils rich in schist that make for extremely good drainage, and in my experience, a high degree of minerality in the wine.
The majority of Aux Moines' production is a single wine of 100% Chenin Blanc, and properly so, for it is here in Savennieres that Chenin Blanc shines like nowhere else in the world.
Chenin Blanc, or Pineau de la Loire as it is also referred to at times, is synonymous with the Loire valley, there is not much Chenin Blanc planted there -- far more is grown in South Africa. Chenin is an oft forgotten member of the great white varietals of the world. It is overshadowed by Riesling, Chardonnay, Semillon, and even its neighbor and direct descendant, Sauvignon Blanc in popular wine culture. Yet Chenin is one of the most versatile and profound white grapes in my humble opinion -- capable of making wines of great depth and complexity whether they be the molleux dessert wines of Vouvray or crisp, low-alcohol whites like this bottle. Chenin, in particular, is famous for its ability to age for decades, gaining in complexity, aroma, and deepening in golden hue.
Domaine Aux Moines produces very little wine. So little that I scratch my head at the numbers of acres they have under cultivation -- 2500 cases a year seems like an awful small number of bottles to be produced on twenty acres. It is possible that (in addition to practicing low-yield viticulture) the Laroches sell much of their crop to others and choose to produce only what they can completely control in terms of quality.
Apart from their small production of red wine, and in certain years, a late harvest dessert wine, Aux Moines make only this single white wine from their 50+ year-old vines. It is fermented in steel and only small amounts are aged in oak to be blended back into the main wine. In keeping with the properties of the grape, and perhaps with their predilection for doing things their own way, Aux Moines regularly holds wine back for much later commercial release. To wit, this 1994 vintage is a current release, as are vintages stretching back to 1991 and forward to 2001. How a tiny producer like this can afford to not sell all 2500 cases of their production after bottling is a mystery that will not be unraveled here.