DOMAINE DU FONTENAY

Well here is something a bit different. In just about every way. From an almost unheard of area, the Côte Roannaise. This is a Loire wine, but from so far up the Loire, half-way between Lyon and Clermont Ferrand, that it is closer to the Rhône than to Sancerre. Granitic soils, quite acidic, are perfect for Gamay. Simon Hawkins, English 'artisan-vigneron', has abandoned modern wine-making techniques to return to methods his neigbours dismiss as being those of their grandfathers. Only natural yeasts, no filtering, and crucially and very bravely, no chaptalisation. This last means that Simon has to make a minimum ripeness every year in order to make wine, as he does not have the 'let-out' of adding sugar to bump up the aclohol. This self-imposed restriction means that all the vineyard management, including draconian restriction of yield, is geared to achieving this minimum ripeness every year. It also leads to the other natural characteristic of Simon's wines, namely that they are naturally low-alcohol. These wines are incredibly pure and feel as natural as well-water - and should probably be drunk at a similar temperature.