Alcohol: 11%
Grape(s): 100% Folle Blanche
Localization: Loire Valley, France
Tasting Notes: Light yellow with green and golden reflections. Mineral and iodized nose with lime nuances. Round and fat on the pallet due to a beautiful maturity of the grapes. A round and fresh finish.
Food Pairing: Pair with seafood and shellfish.
The Domain: Founded in 1842 and situated in Vallet, just southeast of Nantes where the Loire River spills into the Atlantic Ocean, Château Guipière is a 28ha estate focused on cultivating the two mainstay grapes of the region: Melon de Bourgogne, bottled under its much more well-known AOP Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine, and Gros Plant (a.k.a. Folle Blanche), a specialty of the region which attracts a small cult audience for being one of the most racy, high acid, minerally white wines in the world.
In 2015, the Château and its vineyards were acquired by Philippe Nevoux with support from Stéphane Gouraud, his vineyard manager and cellarmaster. In the years since, this team has transformed the winery into a burgeoning fine wine estate. The major change was to pursue HVE3 Certification (Haute Valeur Environmentale or “High Environmental Value”). This includes commitments to biodiversity conservation, managed fertilizer use, eco-friendly plant protection strategies, and water resources management. Protecting and nourishing the estate’s heritage vines, some of them up to 60 years old, is not just a viticultural imperative but a genuinely ethical one in the 21st century.
Another impressive practice at the winery is their commitment to bottling single-vineyard cuvees, thereby shining a spotlight on the different terroirs of their property. Lined up and tasted comparatively, these wines are a revelation of how Muscadet—often perceived by outsiders as a homogenous region—can produce nuanced and deliciously different wines from its varying geologies.
Bowler has chosen to carry three of these single-vineyard Muscadets and the fabulously bright, quaffable Gros Plant whose stained-glass fish label is destined to pop up everywhere in US stores and restaurants. We could not be happier and more excited to start working with this wonderful new estate
Buy 6 bottles of regularly priced (not on sale) wines and receive 5% off.
Buy 12 and receive 10% off.
Email sale wines do not combine nor count towards the above discount.
We would consider all wine to be "Natural". The term "Natural Wine" has the connotation of lacking a touch with nature. The winegrowers we champion are those who are farmers first. They seek to capture the uniqueness of the site (terroir) in the purest way possible. The product is as pure as possible and without wine-making flaws (brettanomyces, mercaptans, volatile acidity, etc.
Raw, in this case, we define as realistic and not manipulated. The winemakers use the least amount of intervention as possible. Wine should be made in the vineyard, not the cellar. The winemaker's job is to get the wine into the bottle in the purest form possible. There are additives that go into making wine, some are essential and some are not. Wines in this category do not have extra additives. They are free of added sulfur, or have the most minimal amounts possible in order to provide shelf stability for the consumer to experience the wine as the winemaker intended it to be.
