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MENETOU SALON

FOOD & WINE MAGAZINE: “Chatenoy is without peer”

An undiscovered source for excellent Sauvignon Blanc can be found in the appellation of Menetou-Salon whose sloping vineyards touch on those of Sancerre. Touring the vineyards with Pierre Clement, the young owner of the Domaine de Chatenoy, one learns that Menetou is 100% Kimmeridgian marl, unlike the varied soil types of Sancerre. The appellation has a strange, irregular elongated shape which follows this vein of soil type. The soil is clay, marne, layered with limestone. This ancient, ocean-bottom vineyard is full of crustacean fossils.

Members of the Clement family are recorded as winegrowers in 1560 but it wasn't until 1709 that they purchased the Domaine de Chatenoy. As president of the appellation, Pierre Clement is very proud of the success of Menetou Salon and of Domaine de Chatenoy. Menetou Salon is quite the rage in Paris restaurants now and he can’t supply enough, though his domaine has expanded from 12 hectares to 55 hectares in just 15 years. He produces 50,000 cases of wine a year, 2/3 of it white. He is responsible for 40% of the total production of Menetou Salon. His goal is for the wines of Menetou Salon to be recognized in their own right, not as a poor sibling of Sancerre. For that reason he has placed many restrictions on the planting of vineyards by outsiders.

With the quality of Clement’s wines, his goals may be achievable. Perhaps he can do for Menetou what Lucien Peyraud did for Bandol. Clement’s winemaking facility is impressive. It is completely state-of-the-art, which is necessary to make this quantity of high-quality wine. Winemaking here follows the philosophy of minimal handling and indigenous yeasts to produce very natural, expressive wines. After a cool fermentation, the wines are left on their fine lees, sometimes into the spring of the year following harvest. It is an approach which brings out the intensity of fruit and terroir which is at the heart of the potential of this fine vineyard.

And at the same time, he is always experimenting and pushing for changes in the AOC rules to improve the already high quality. When asked why he continues to push the margins, since his wines are already so good, he responds, “but if they can be just a little bit better, isn’t it worth it?”

Domaine de Chatenoy Website

Menetou Salon Blanc

Pierre Clement has raised the quality of his Menetou-Salon wines to new heights. He has equipped his winery with the most up to date equipment to ensure gentle handling of the fruit and the full extraction of aromas and flavors. Clement vinifies his Sauvignon Blanc grapes using one-third maceration peliculaire (maceration with the skins). The temperature of the juice is lowered as the fermentation begins slowly using only native yeasts. The young wine is left on its fine lees in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks through the winter and is bottled after a light filtration in March. The Domaine de Chatenoy Menetou-Salon Blanc is an amazingly vivid wine, bursting with aromas of citrus, white peach and flowers. On the palate, it has good concentration with flavors of red grapefruit, apricot, and minerals. In her "A Wine and Food Guide to the Loire", Jacqueline Friedrich rates Domaine de Chatenoy an “Excellent” producer, calling his Menetou-Salon white “super.” This is a must-discover wine, both for its value and vivid flavors that match perfectly with lobster and scallops, as well as river fish, white meats, and vegetable pastas and risotto.

Dame de Chatenoy

This is the domain's top cuvee. It is created along the lines of the normal bottling but gets extended lees aging. The result is a wine with all of the freshness of great Sauvignon Blanc but with added layers of richness and complexity.

Menetou Salon Rouge

Pierre studied oenology in Dijon and his savoir faire with Pinot Noir is evident in the Menetou-Salon Rouge. His Pinot Noir is made from 30 year old vines planted on ideal clay-limestone soils. The grapes are all harvested by hand and yields are kept to 45hl/ha. At the winery, one-third of the fruit is destemmed. Cuvaison lasts 15-20 days with regular pumping over (remontage) and pushing down of the skins (pigeage) in order to attain the highest level of extraction of color and flavor as possible in the vintage. Both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation takes place (as in Burgundy) in oak casks, one third of which are new each year. Only native yeasts are used. The aging period lasts a full year, and the wine is bottled in the fall, before the next harvest, and then ages for 6 months in bottle before release. Approximately 4000 cases are produced each year. The Chatenoy Menetou-Salon Rouge is an outstanding, sappy, dark-berry flavored Pinot Noir that has depth and personality to spare. It is certainly the Loire’s finest Pinot Noir.