Clos du Bourg demi sec 2022

The Clos du Bourg is located above the church of Vouvray and comprises six hectares of vineyards surrounded by an old stone wall - hence "Clos". It is one of the oldest Grand Cru plots in France. It is mentioned as early as the 7th century. The flat soil of the vineyard consists of clay with flint and chalk inclusions. It is situated on a typical Turonian tuffeau limestone rock. Here, the vines reach the tufa after only one metre.

The harvest began in 2022 on 8 September and ended six weeks later (the harvest workers, 24 of them this year, have never harvested for so long). As heatwaves and drought led to very heterogeneously ripening grape material, all varieties of Chenin Blanc could be produced, from the base wine for pétillants to 1er Trie. As usual, the grapes were meticulously sorted, pressed and spontaneously fermented during the many harvest rounds. Malolactic fermentation only took place in exceptional cases and in individual barrels. The wine was matured in used demi-muids. The Clos du Bourg Demi-Sec 2022 has 18 grams of residual sweetness.

medium straw yellow

The 2022 Clos du Bourg Demi-Sec is juicy, creamy and silky with a full fruitiness reminiscent of ripe, sometimes crunchy, sometimes crumbly apples, pears and quinces. There are also juicy and slightly tart notes of kumquats. A little smoke and white flowers round off the overall picture.

On the palate the Vouvray for a full, round, rich and deep attack with lots of yellow fruit of apples and pears. The fruit is ripe and beautiful. The juiciness is enormous and it is clear that everything will continue to fan out and deepen over the next few years. But this is already a wonderful wine with a supporting acidity and a marvellous blend of depth and lightness. It is extremely seductive and, as has so often been the case in recent years, it is hard to see how we can force ourselves to allow this wine to mature in the bottle for several more years and at the same time deny ourselves this pleasure for so long.