Les Vignes du Fresche
Anjou
In 2022 Marc Houtin, geologist and partner at La Grange aux Belles, and Daniel Craker, former cellarmaster, and importer in Bordeaux joined together to start Les Vignes du Fresche. Their intention is to make wines that reflect the vintage and their land, on the hills of the Coteaux de la Loire in Anjou. They farm 27 hectares of vines, all situated on a plateau 93m above sea level, south of the Loire river, on sandy clay soils on a bedrock of black schist typical of the Anjou noir. The vines have been farmed organically since 2000. Marc and Daniel are committed to working sustainably and improving the estate.
After their first harvest, they planted over a hundred trees amongst the vineyards to provide diversity and protection for the vines. They have also reduced grubbed up some tired vines, to leave grassland for the introduction of horses and sheep to the estate. They will use horses to work in Clos le Grand Bézillé, and sheep to maintain the grass during the winter months and in early spring. They also work sustainably in their small winery: they collect rainwater and have plans to build a more energy efficient winery with solar panels to cover their daily energy needs outside harvest time. They bottle using extra-light glass. The wines are clean and juicy, fermented with natural yeasts and no additives apart from a touch of sulphur to ensure the wine remain stable.
Vdf “Plumy” 2022
VARIETY : 50% Chenin Blanc, 50% Chardonnay
TERROIR : Plumy comes from two tiny plots of old Chardonnay vines, planted in the 1970s, and from an equally old plot of Chenin blanc vines, La Roche évière.
Grapes were pressed, racked and fermented in tank before being blended with the Chenin, harvested 2 weeks later to finish their fermentation together and make a base wine. At the end of September, some of Chenin juice is used as the liqueur de tirage for the second fermentation in bottle. The wine remained on its lees in our cellar for 14 months before it was disgorged in December 2023. No dosage.
Vdf “Zinzibulles” 2022
VARIETY : Pinot Noir
TERROIR :
HARVEST : hand picked
VINIFICATION : Direct Press Pinot Noir, vinification in fiber tanks with native yeast and temperature control. Aged on lees until November. Pressing of a small batch of Grolleau Noir in a vertical press and freezing of the must to await tirage. Grolleau must is then blended with the Pinot Noir base wine and and bottled for 2nd fermentation in bottle. After 6 months in the cellar, the wine was stirred and disgorged, corked and returned to the cellar for a month's rest before release. No Dosage.
AOC Anjou
“Brin de Lune” 2022
VARIETY : Chenin Blanc
TERROIR :
Brin de Lune is a wine from several plots of Chenin blanc, notably Les Vergers and La Bretonnière where the soils are 50cm deep.
HARVEST : hand picked
VINIFICATION : The Chenin for Brin de Lune was harvested in mid-September and gently pressed in a pneumatic press.
The musts were racked the next day and fermentation began in tank before a third of the volume was put in secondhand 225L barrels and two new 600L barrels to ferment and then age untouched until August 2023. The final blend was assembled in tank and left until bottling in early December.
AOC Anjou “Radicalement” Blanc 2023
VARIETY : Chenin Blanc / 90% Chardonnay 10%
TERROIR : Chardonnay harvested on on 1st of September followed by the Chenin in the second half of September.
HARVEST : hand picked
VINIFICATION :
The grapes were slowly pressed as whole bunches in our pneumatic press and the must was racked from thevats the following day. Fermentation lasted from two weeks to a month and the wines remained on all their lees until January, when they were blended together in preparation for bottling.
“Radicalement Rosé” 2023
VARIETY : Pineau Noir, Grolleau, Gamay
TERROIR : Pinot noir picked first, followed by Gamay and Grolleau one week apart.
HARVEST : hand picked
VINIFICATION : Pinot noir was pressed directly in a pneumatic press whilst the two other grape varieties were vatted first and then juice was run off after 24h of maceration. The musts were fermented in stainless steel and then blended prior to a light filtration and bottling in mid-March.
IGP Val de Loire “Radicalement” Rouge 2022
VARIETY : Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gamay, Grolleau.
TERROIR : The harvest for the reds began with the Gamay on September 1st, followed by the Grolleau noir mid-September and the Cabernets from the end of September.
HARVEST : hand picked
VINIFICATION : Some of the Cabernet franc was whole-bunch fermented with carbonic maceration, as was all of the Gamay and some of the Grolleau. The remainder was de-stemmed and fermented in tank with one or two pumping-overs during an average of 2-weeks soak. No oak for this wine.
IGP Val de Loire “Les Nuits Fresche” 2022
VARIETY : Pinot Noir
TERROIR : Grapes were picked at the end of August - beginning of September after a very warm growing season. From two parcels of Pinot noir, Le Clos du Grand Bézillé and les Mommelières, and we fermented them separately and differently.
HARVEST : hand picked
VINIFICATION : Les Mommelières had a week-long carbonic maceration and Le Clos du Grand Bézillé was partially destemmed and fermented in open top vats for 3 weeks. The two wines were assembled a month after pressing and remained in vats until the bottling in June.
AOC Anjou “Les Berçantes” 2022
VARIETY : Cabernet Franc
TERROIR : Parcels of Cabernet franc in the Clos du Grand Bézillé, at Les Mortiers, next to the windmill, and in La Bretonnière. Grapes were picked from the end of September through to mid-October.
HARVEST : hand picked
VINIFICATION :
De-stemmed before vatting and the fermentations were completed on the skins where maceration times varied between 3 weeks and one month.
A third of the total volume was aged in secondhand 500L barrels for 11 months before it was blended in tank with the restand then bottled without filtration at the end of November 2023.