Philippe Chevarin ‘Les Alouettes’ Blanc NV (2020)
Location: France, Loire, Pays Nantais
Winemaker: Philippe Chevarin
Grapes: 80% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Melon de Bourgogne
Soil: Schist
Winemaking: It’s no frills and no distractions style of winemaking. Philippe is the first to admit he is still mastering the intricacies of vinification but believes first and foremost that better viticulture will be the conduit to better wines. From his first vintage in 2015, he's aimed to vinify as simply as possible. All the wines ferment and age in fiberglass tanks and go through malo. His goal is to not use S02 at any point, but in recent vintages Philippe has added microscopic amounts to his whites. As of the 2020 vintage, wines with no added S02 are indicated with a "no sulfites added" mention on the front label. ‘Les Alouettes’ is direct press, fermented and aged in fiberglass tanks. 10-20 mg per liter of sulfur is added at bottling if deemed necessary. As of the 2020 vintage, the front labels feature a "no sulfites added" mention if they were bottled without S02.
From us at M&L: Philippe Chevarin left a 23 year career as a live sound engineer to be a vigneron. In my relatively short time spent in the world of wine I’ve noticed many a musician turned wine enthusiast so the two seem to go hand in hand. Phillipes operation is a scant 5 hectares which is essentially in the Muscadet zone, but all his wines are bottled as Vin de France.
The Les Alouettes comes from Sauvignon Blanc and Melon de Bourgogne averaging 40 years in age planted to well draining schist soils. The wine is made via direct press and is fermented and aged in fiberglass tanks. This was a delicious, if a bit enigmatic bottle. Very easy drinking and refreshing with some zippier key lime things going on but there was also an overall nutty mustiness that made me really want some fatty cured meats. This was one I could have happily spent hours trying to puzzle out. And would do again too.-Dillon
From the Importer Louis/Dressner: In a past life, Philippe Chevarin was an audio engineer. Starting as a musician, he eventually shifted his interests to the technical aspects of sound. Completely self taught, after reading a few books he started gigging with local bands as well as mixing and mastering recordings. This 23 year career would see him working with unknown noise-bands to more famous acts like Vanessa Paradis.
Originally from the Southwest, Philippe moved to Nantes after meeting his future wife. There he met her childhood friend Cécile Argondico, who just so happens to be married to Thierry Puzelat. Meeting Thierry fueled Philippe's blossoming love affair with wine and coincided with an increasing disillusionment with the business side of the music industry.
Engineering gave Philippe a lot of downtime, so he began studying viticulture and oenology. This eventually landed him at a two year apprenticeship with Jacques and Agnes Carroget at Domaine de la Paonnerie. From this experience Philippe was confident he wanted become a vigneron and asked Jacques to help him find vines.
Starting with two hectares in 2014 (the grapes from this vintage were sold to Pierre-O Bonhomme and René Mosse), Philippe now finds himself with about five hectares of vines. Two thirds of the production consists of Melon de Bourgogne, with Gamay, Grolleau and a bit or Cabernet Sauvignon rounding out the lineup. The wines are bottled as Vin de France, but would fall under Muscadet-Coteaux-de-la-Loire for the whites and Coteaux d'Ancenis for the reds if under the appellation system.
The vines are worked organically and in Ecocert conversion. The previous owner had left them in pretty terrible shape: shockingly many of the parcels are only planted at 50% capacity from neglect. With a few vintages now under his belt, Philippe is increasingly starting to realize that while some plots are worth restoring, others are simply too far gone and need to be abandoned for new land. This coupled with three out of his five first vintages suffering from catastrophic frost/hail/mildew damage has forced Philippe to obtain a négociant license as of the 2021 vintage.
The cellar is one of the smallest we've ever seen. When asked on a recent visit if he would ever expand from this tiny schist cave filled only with fiberglass tanks, Philippe answered with a pragmatic and philosophical analogy to these limitations:
"I see it as a way of staying focused and not getting caught up with bells and whistles. When I was mixing and mastering records, I always used the same basic board with no effects. It was a very minimal approach but I mastered that board and learned how to get the best from it."