France

2The Clos du Chêne Vert is one of the mythical places of Chinon, located in the city itself, at the Haute Olive, on the right bank of the Vienne river.
The very steep slope of this clos of two small hectares, its south-west orientation and its clay and silico-calcareous soil explain why it is one of the oldest crus of the whole appellation.
The place owes its name to the monumental holm oak overhanging it, growing back from a tree more than eight hundred years old planted by the monks of the Abbey of Bourgueil in the 12th century.
The numerous maturity controls carried out for all the vintages in order to determine the optimum date for the harvest generally result in harvesting this clos at the very beginning. Its exceptional exposure and its hillside terroir give us the first musts of each vintage.
The duration of maceration and vatting are similar to those of the Varennes, with the specificity, from the 2008 vintage onwards, of being carried out in wooden vats.
Pumping over and punching down (pressing the cap of the marc into its juice) help to extract the matter and the colour. Alcoholic fermentation is sometimes followed by malolactic fermentation on the pomace, bringing roundness and extra fatness. Prolonged ageing in barrels of 1 to 3 wines (12 to 15 months) completes the refinement of this wine with a rare personality.
A very long ageing cuvée that must wait several years in the cellar for it to deliver its originality.