Savennières L’Enthousiasme
At a Glance
- Variety: Chenin Blanc
- Surface Area: 2.0 ha (4.94 ac)
- Vine Age: Planted in 1996
- Terroir: From a selection within the Clos le Grand Beaupréau, at the top of Epiré hill, the well-ventilated, highest point in Savennières, just below the Moulin de Beaupréau, southwest-facing, early-ripening. The topsoil (30 to 50 cm) is composed of windblown aeolian sands, covering a subsoil of brittle schists that allow for deep rooting.
- Viticulture: Organic (Ecocert), biodynamic (Biodyvin). 5,000 vines/ha, frequent hoeing of the soil, short pruning, manual de-budding and leaf removal.
- Vinification: Harvested early to avoid botrytis, pressed with whole clusters, lightly settled, ambient yeast fermentation and aging on the lees for 12 months in foudres, spontaneous malolactic conversion, filtered with diatomaceous earth, SO2 added only during aging.
Additional Info
This is a selection within Clos le Grand Beaupréau. The Ogereau family actually owns two parcels in the middle of the lieu-dit. One is on the plateau at the top of the the hill of Epiré, with 50 cm of eolian (windblown) sand soil over sandy schist bedrock. The other parcel is very steep, with shallow topsoil over a bedrock of sandstone and schist. Within this second parcel there is a vein of pure sandstone bedrock with almost no topsoil. Each year, the maturity in this terroir is much more precocious than in the rest of domaine's parcels, leading to the decision to vinify and bottle it separately as Enthousiasme.
The label includes a definition of the word enthusiasm: "The state in which man, lifted by a higher power, feels himself capable of creating."