Nicolas Reau "Attention Chenin Méchant"

• Direct press
• Fermentation starts in tank andfinish in used oak barrel on lees
• 6 months aging on lees in usedoak barrel
• Racking
• Bottling with a light filtration and 2g/HL of sulfites addedREGION: Loire AOP: Vin de France

About the producer:

Nicolas Réau is a natural wine producer in the Anjou sub-region of the Loire. Réau has been a seminal figure in the French natural wine movement since the early aughts and a regular participant in La Dive Bouteille. Réau is guided by the principles of Biodynamic farming in his management of 7 hectares of Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc vines and is a non-interventionist in the cellar.

Nicolas practices Biodynamics but doesn’t seek the certification. Instead his philosophy is to be guided by conscientious farming so as to produce wines that are clean, distinct and honest. To this end, Réau uses intuition to identify the 2 to 3 day window where the fruit shows phenolic maturity but still has a low potential alcohol. This window is identifiable when the fruit demonstrates the most harmony on the palate, a sensation that is almost impossible to find in vineyards manipulated by chemicals and industrial processes according to Réau. He believes that if you let the climate and vines guide the work in the vineyard, the energy of the fruit will carry through to the finished wine as long as the winemaker refrains from similar interventions in the cellar. With slight variations in ripeness of the individual berries at harvest, Réau’s wines carry a natural acidity, freshness, and personality that cannot be reproduced by any other means.