Noëlla Morantin ‘Les Pichiaux’ Blanc 2020

Location: France, Loire, Touraine

Winemaker: Noëlla Morantin

Grapes: Sauvignon Blanc

Soil: Clay, flint, limestone

Winemaking: The fruit is direct press, fermented and aged on the lees in fiberglass vats. The wine is usually not filtered but might be in extreme cases. It receives 15mg per liter of sulfur just before bottling.

From us at M&L: ‘Les Pichiaux’ comes from a parcel of the same name, 100% Sauvignon Blanc harvested from vines planted in 2003 to clay, flint, and limestone soils. Ripe, bruised pineapple and pretty flecked minerality across the palate. Dreamy with caprese and other ripe vegetables.

From the Importer Louis/Dressner: Noëlla Morantin, originally from Brittany, started making wine in the Touraine in 2008. A random encounter with a professor of viticulture inspired her to start learning about wine and the hobby quickly became an obsession. In 2001, she quit her job and started viti//vini school, where she interned with Agnès and René Mosse until 2003. In 2004, she met Junko Arai, the owner of the now defunct Touraine estate Les Bois Lucas. The two hit it off and Noëlla was eventually hired as head overseer of the estate.

Bois Lucas' vines had previously been owned by Catherine Roussel and Didier Barrouillet of Clos Roche Blanche. Working in close proximity to each other served as a natural way for Noëlla and Didier to get to know each other and the two became friends. In 2008, the decision was made to downsize Clos Roche Blanche in half; this coincided with Noëlla's plans of starting her own estate, so she jumped on the opportunity when Didier proposed she rent some of his vines.

Up until 2016, Noëlla rented 8.5 hectares of vines from ex-Clos Roche Blanche land. With Catherine and Didier's retirement along with Julien Pineau and Laurent Saillard's acquisition of the land, Noëlla had to source other parcels to rent, particularly for Gamay and Côt. She eventually purchased four hectares of land she worked with at Bois Lucas, and later the ‘Les Pichiaux’ and ‘Chez Charles’ parcels that produce her single parcel Sauvignons. Today she owns all of her vines, six hectares in total. She also buys fruit as a négociant to produce a few entry level cuvées.

Sauvignon Blanc, Gamay, Côt and Cabernet Franc are cultivated (Noëlla ripped out her Cabernet Sauvignon in 2019 to plant Romorantin). The vines are tended organically (certified by Ecocert in 2008), and the wine is vinified without intervention or manipulation. Almost everything ferments in large wooden vats.

Other than the ‘Marie-Rose’ (a Cabernet Sauvignon rosé named after Noëlla's grandmothers), all wines are aged a year to a year and a half in old barrels, which differs from the vast majority of Touraine wines, which get released in the early Spring. Not wanting to deal with AOC politics, Noëlla intentionally declassifies all her cuvées to Vin de France.