2020 Jean-Pierre Robinot Bistrologie

WINEMAKER: Jean-Pierre Robinot
REGION: Loire Valley, FR
VARIETAL: Chenin Blanc
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic

The Bistrologie is a beautifully-crafted, classic expression of the Loire Valley’s favourite grape variety, namely Chenin Blanc. The grapes are harvested from very healthy 40 year old vines that have benefitted from not having been sprayed with herbicides or pesticides that degrade the soil (which is red clay studded with limestone and flint rocks). The vineyards are also managed using biodynamic principles that ensure that the soil is healthy along with the creatures and fungi that thrive in these soils.

The grapes are hand harvested and then pressed and the juice put straight into old (sometimes very, very old) wooden barrels to ferment. The wine is kept on lees for at least one year, sometimes more. It has power and finesse simultaneously – something that is not easy for a winemaker to do. The time it has spent in old wooden barrels has softened it and given it a pleasing roundness. The finish on this wine is incredibly long. The alcohol level for the 2020 is a pleasant 12.5%.

Not many winemakers have a cult following much like Robinot. After falling in love with wine at 22 years of age over a bottle of 1964 Cheval Blanc, Jean-Pierre soon opened one of Paris' first natural wine bars (L’Ange Vin), followed by creating one of France's most influential wine magazines (Le Rouge et le Blanc). Eventually leaving Paris to buy a vineyard with his wife Noella, the wines of Robinot are some of the most highly sought after in the world. Long, natural ferments, extended élevage, both sometimes years, always without additions of any kind. Super limited.