Domaine de la Noblaie, 2014 Chinon ‘Les Chiens Chiens’
Cab Franc du Jour #70
Domaine de la Noblaie has been on my radar for some time. My first tasting with Jérôme was likely at ProWein around 2010, and every year I would return to the stand to retaste the wines. Today’s wine is a bit of a cellar raid, something I have been holding onto for a while.
The place itself, La Noblaie, has a rich viticultural history stretching back at least 500 years, possibly longer. The Cassini family, who created the first maps of the Kingdom of France in the mid-1700s, noted La Noblaie as a significant lieu-dit on one of their maps dating to 1765. The domaine is located in the hamlet of La Vau Breton, which first appears in historical records in 1698. The name is telling: vau in old French means valley, and Breton is of course the local name for Cabernet Franc, meaning this place was referred to as the Cabernet Franc Valley as far back as the late 17th century.
Fast forward to the modern era, and Jérôme’s grandparents, Jacqueline and Pierre Manzagol, purchased the estate and its 3 hectares of vines in 1952. Jérôme’s first year at the domaine was 2003, their 50th vintage, and today the estate farms around 24 hectares of organically certified vines, all in the commune of Ligré.
The Commune of Ligré
Ligré sits on the south side, or left bank, of the Vienne River, directly opposite the eastern part of the Chinon commune. Uniquely, Ligré does not border the Vienne directly: the commune of Rivière occupies the riverbank, and Ligré is set further back to the south. As a result, none of the vineyards in Ligré sit on any of the alluvial soils found close to the river.
The vineyards are concentrated in one area in the northwestern part of the commune, with the rest of the agricultural land given over to other crops. In this northwestern pocket, a large forested area rises to form a elevated hill, and all of the vineyards occupy the lower slopes beneath that forest. This configuration produces a considerable variety of exposures across the vineyard area.
The soils are as varied as the aspects. Above approximately 80m above sea level, Senonian-era hydromorphic clays mixed with flint sit atop the Upper Turonian tuffeau bedrock. On the lower slopes, the bedrock transitions to either the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau or the Middle Turonian white micaceous tuffeau chalk depending on the specific position on the slope. Topsoil and subsoil compositions vary widely as well, with some vineyards on sandier profiles and others on a more mixed sand-silt-clay combination. Within this single commune there is a striking diversity of exposures, elevations, and soils.
Les Chiens Chiens
Today’s wine comes from 4.5 hectares in the lieu-dit Les Chiens Chiens, with vine ages ranging from some of the oldest parcels planted in 1945 to the youngest planted in 2002. The site sits just above 80m above sea level, which places it in the zone where the Senonian-era hydromorphic clay subsoil is found. Above that sits approximately 40cm of kaolinite clay, and the topsoil is a clay mixed with flint pebbles. This combination is known locally as cornuelles.
In the Cellar
The fruit is hand-harvested in several passes to ensure full phenolic ripeness across the different parcels. The grapes are fully destemmed and transferred by gravity to tank, where fermentation takes place with indigenous yeast. Maceration runs approximately three weeks by infusion, with some pigéage during that period. The wine is then transferred to 500L oak barrels for approximately 15 months of aging before bottling.
Wine Details
Producer: Domaine de la Noblaie
Appellation: Chinon
Commune: Ligré
Lieu-Dit: Les Chiens Chiens
Soil: Senonian era hydromorphic clay, kaolinite clay, and flint
Alcohol: 13.0%