Description
Facing due south on a steep hillside overlooking the Layon, the fogs encourage Botrytis, making the skin of the grapes permeable and allowing the concentration of sugars by evaporation of water and thus offering the vines ideal conditions. Manual harvest by 3 or 4 successive sortings, of pieces of grape clusters only botrytized or raisined.
Intense yellow color with golden highlights. On the nose it presents notes of raisins and dried fruits. The palate is powerful, concentrated, fat and complex. Will age for several decades.
Producer Information: Domaine des Forges
I first visited Claude way back in the early nineties and we enjoyed the mighty 1989 and 1990 vintages. I still come across the odd bottle of the sweet wines and they remain full of life. Although Claude still potters around the cellar, the current success of this estate and the quality of the wines is down to son Stéphane and his wife Séverine. Their 50 hectares of vines include 30 hectares of Chenin Blanc – of which 7 are on the steep slopes in the great Chaume 1er Cru.
This is one of many farms to stall their conversion to biodynamics given that one vintage in five or six will throw something at them that they just can't control with natural products. Nevertheless this is still one of only a few important domaines offering these very fine and under valued sweet wines.
