One of the world's greatest sweet wines, these dessert wines are denoted as "Coteaux du Layon". They have a lot of similarities to the great Sauternes of Bordeaux, but as you can see at a fraction of the price and a plethora of vintages available. They are both made from the noble rot, or botrytis cinerea, the grapes experience on the vine late into the harvest season as sugars have accumulated in the grapes, but the acidity is intact giving the wine a vitality and freshness that cuts the sweetness. Drink them older with more traditional wine cuisines, when younger or honestly at any age, they are a killer pairing with cheeses, charcuterie, fruits, foie gras, and desserts of all kinds...or just simp them as an aperitif as these are gorgeously perfumed, complex, and deeply layered wines.
Rebecca Gibb, MW who covers the Loire Valley for Galloni's Vinous Media reviewed and did a cover story on this great winery and the story behind them here in this link: VINOUS MOULIN TOUCHAIS
"During WWII German’s occupation of the City of Doué, Joseph Touchais, who took over the family estate in 1930, decided to brick their labyrinth of cellars to protect the mountains of vintage stock buried deep in the estate’s cave. After the war ended, when reopening the tunnels, he realized that the wines had aged tremendously well. Since this time, they made themselves famous for the late releases of their Chenin Blanc wines, which demands cellaring for at least 10 years before a bottle is made available to the market.
Their 35 hectares planted exclusively with Chenin Blanc are harvested in 3-5 picks. The 1st pick is for acidity; the other picks are for maturity. The blend brings balance and is the traditional method of the Layon. The Upper Layon, where their vines are located, has less botrytis than the lower Layon, toward Bonnezeaux or Quarts-de-Chaume. The fogs burn off earlier in their section. 9 years out of 10 will be passerillage harvests rather than botrytis, which brings a fresher and less sweet style. Residual sugar is 80-90gr/l in average; the vintage doesn’t really affect that. The nuances that you will find in the 27 vintages, through 6 decades, of the wines available to sell, is brought by the vintage effect as well as the slow evolution in their caves where the wines lay down since their bottling.
Fermentation is done in concrete vats, no oak is used. Each “trie” is fermented in separate tanks. Wild yeasts fermentation only. Fermentations are carried out through mid-January after harvest and stopped by cooling of the must if not stopped naturally at this point. Sedimentation of the tartar relies on the cold of the winter and the wine is then bottled after 3 months. The winter period is crucial to cold stabilization.
Re-corking is done after 20 years in cellar. If the bottle needs topping up they use the same vintage to do that with.
When opening a bottle first thing that come to mind is that the wines are wines of freshness and elegance rather than outright sweetness. Offering you this experience is like sharing an history book, Chenin Blanc is eternal and its versatility is remarkable, every single bottle will prove you that..." Importer, Thomas Meunier
