We had this wine in store last year and sold out, so it’s great to welcome it back in.

Meet Domaine de la Taille aux Loups, a dry, bottle fermented Chenin Blanc from the appellation of Montlouis-sur-Loire where chalky clay and sandy clay soils share space on top of a bedrock of limestone. Only organic fertilisers are used here and all grapes are hand harvested with bunches picked into small plastic bins then fermented to 11.5 to 12% ABV in old oak barrels using only indigenous yeasts. The first fermentation leaves residual sugar of about seven to eight grams per litre and this is adjusted to 16 to 18 grams of residual sugar per litre for the second fermentation. The wine is aged for 20 months on lees in bottle and finishes with 4 to 6 grams of residual sugar, which makes it dry in style as well as flavour. 

It costs a lot less, is made the same way as Champagne and comes from France. It is aged on lees to gain from the autolytic process and disgorged prior to labelling.

La Taille aux Loups from Montlouis-sur-Loire is a stunning bubbly from the Loire Valley in central France, which is home to the great Chenin Blanc grape – an outstanding ingredient in wines such as this lovely, lively bubbly.