Noëlla Morantin ‘Marie Ju’ Pétillant Blanc 2022
Location: France, Loire, Touraine
Winemaker: Nöella Morantin
Grapes: Chenin Blanc
Winemaking: Following the havoc inflicted by hail in the 2022 vintage, Noëlla bought grapes from neighbour Mikaël Bouges to make this wine. His terroir is heavier on the limestone, lending this wine its edge. The grapes were harvested in early September and pressed directly into steel tanks to start the ferment, little over a week later it was in the bottle to complete. Nine months later, the following summer, the wine was disgorged and sealed with a cork closure.
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.