Wine for sale: Fixed price Clos Naudin
PRODUCER OF THE WEEK
Clos Naudin
Two elements prevail at Clos Naudin: handing down savoir-faire and the art of tasting. You won’t be surprised that this Vouvray estate has, with each generation, lost not a bit of its soul or expertise, producing pure, taut, complex wines which traverse the years with remarkable ease.
Clos Naudin
Philippe Foreau set down roots in Vouvray in 1983, his first vintage. He represents the third generation to run the family estate after Armand and then André Foreau. The property was tended to using organic practices for many years before receiving official certification; 2024 will be its first vintage bearing the organic label. His son Vincent joined him in 2007 and has since taken it over, added his own touch to the work of his farther.
Two things are a constant at the estate: no malolactic conversion and wood ageing in barrels around 30 years in age. The wines are fermented in wooden barrels for six months, followed by a short ageing period and bottling in April or May, without chaptalisation or acidification.
Depending on the vintage, the wines will be dry, off-dry or sweet but always deep, mineral and showing off their terroir. The sweet wines are split between two rare cuvées: Classique, made from grapes that dried on the vine (with 50g to 80g of residual sugar) and Réserve, made from grapes affected by noble rot (with 110g to 220g of residual sugar). The estate's high quality wines are perfect to be paired with food, are rich and with a last aromatic persistence.
One of the great names in Vouvray - a true safe bet.
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY...
BETTANE & DESSEAUVE
LA REVUE DU VIN DE FRANCE
“When tasting Philippe Foreau’s wines, everything becomes crystal clear, discernible, in the Chenin; complex and delicious, wonderfully ripe yet taut, drinking beautifully young but has all to gain from waiting a decade. Pure and long on the palate, with proverbial persistence, Clos Naudin’s Vouvrays have the consistency of a metronome.”