Chéreau Carré “L’Orée du Château la Turmelière” Château Thébaud
muscadet sèvre et maine , france | 2016
When it comes to the warmer Summer months, there’s nothing else more refreshing than a minerally lemon pithed Muscadet to help temper the heat. Made from the sleeper varietal Melon de Bourgogne in the Atlantic-facing western reaches of the Loire Valley, these quaffable wines are a well-kept secret in the wine community for being some of the best valued, highest quality, and most age-worthy white wines in the market.
Since the 1960s the Chéreau Carré estate is one of the wineries that has always taken their Muscadets very seriously, and is one of the most respected pioneers for bringing international recognition to this region’s quality by introducing extended lees aging for their wines. The domaine oversees some of the most privileged single sites in the Loire-Atlantique appellation (in the heart of the massive Sèvre-et-Maine sub-region) noted to produce the highest quality Melon de Bourgogne due to the mineral-rich soils, old vines, and proximity to the Atlantic ocean.
The second and third generation ownership is lead by father Bernard Chéreau and daughter Louise Chéreau who handle everything in the family business to preserve the integrity of their wines. Placing an extreme focus on maintaining and cultivating their estate vineyards, they also vinify their fruit in their underground cellars strictly using gravity-flow with no pump-overs to emphasize the region’s terroir and disallow oxidative qualities. The adherence to the philosophy of substantial lees aging in their wines also allows the bottles to age much longer than those without that kind of exposure.
Château Thibaud is one of the ten new Cru Commanaux vineyards designated as the ten best in the region carrying with that classification much higher standards for viticulture and vinification. The Chéreau family first bottled and introduced this wine to the market with this maiden 2016 vintage. The old vines of Château Thibaud sit on granite and gneiss-dominant soils which impart exquisite minerality and complexity to the wine, and this vintage saw 43 months of lees aging which is much longer than the required 2 years mandated for the Cru Commanaux classification.
This wine is only made in the best vintages and the bottles are kept back in cellar for up to five years before release which is a testament to how it is one of the most most age-worthy wines from Chéreau Carré easily being able to age for multiple decades, but feel free to open now and grab those east-coast oysters for an unparalleled pairing!