Domaine Gigou Coteaux-du-Loir Rouge 2020

Location: France, Loire, Touraine, Coteaux-du-Loir

Winemaker: Ludovic Gigou

Grapes: Pineau d’Aunis

Soil: Clay, limestone, tuffeau

Winemaking: Fermented in tanks for 10-12 days; full malolactic. Aged in tank on the lees.

From us at M&L: This Pineau d’Aunis is perfectly spiced with white and black peppercorns, blueberry preserves, dried cranberry, and damp earth. A true Loire vin de soif, of varietal character and sheer beauty.

From the Producer: We are a family estate that produces white and red wines in the Jasnières and Coteaux du Loir appellations. Chenin grape for the whites, Gamay and Pineau d'Aunis for the reds.

In winter we start with a short pruning in order to limit the yields then we crush the vine shoots. Then tillage, then disbudding, which allows the sap to be concentrated on the fruit-bearing strands, followed by trellising and in the meantime treatments with organic products to fight against diseases such as mildew or powdery mildew.

In the summer we work our soils again. Of course all these processes are not systematic, everything depends on the weather and on time. In September, we go through the vines to remove the bunches that will not reach maturity, a few weeks later, we harvest manually for about three weeks. The harvest finished, before pruning, we return to work the soil to aerate and loosen.

We only use indigenous yeasts to start our musts in fermentation. The latter will be long and at low temperature, followed by aging in our oak barrels. Once the balance has been found, we proceed to the bottling, by our care, and let them rest for a while. Our know-how has been given from generation to generation.