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2016 Jasnières “Chant de Vigne”
Christine de Mianville
Christine de Mianville debuted in our portfolio late last year to the delight of established Chenin Blanc fans (myself included), and in the process, gained more than a few new ones. Like her wines, Christine is both layered and focused—she’s been a student, educator, and maker of wine for decades. The 2016 Chant de Vigne is a single-vineyard bottling whose age lends a soft, drawn butter richness to its bright, tart citrus palate, like notes of mandarin stretching into saltwater taffy. It is a signature of Christine’s to hold back vintages until they’re ready for release, and this one is truly prismatic.
—Allyson Noman
Wine Type: | white |
Vintage: | 2016 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Chenin Blanc |
Appellation: | Jasnières |
Country: | France |
Region: | Loire |
Producer: | Christine de Mianville |
Winemaker: | Christine de Mianville |
Vineyard: | 35 years old, 1 ha total |
Soil: | Clay, limestone, silex |
Farming: | Organic (certified) |
Alcohol: | 13.5% |
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About The Producer
Christine de Mianville
Christine de Mianville is a Jasnières specialist who hand-crafts tiny quantities of profound, textured, beautifully refined whites from this northern outpost for Chenin Blanc. She meticulously farms her single hectare of vineyards organically, treating her Chenin grapes as one would precious grand cru fruit from France’s most prestigious sites. Her unique approach to Jasnières demonstrates the nobility of this small appellation, situated on a single hillside—not unlike the Côte de Beaune—on the banks of the Loir River, a northerly tributary to the Loire.
About The Region
Loire
The defining feature of the Loire Valley, not surprisingly, is the Loire River. As the longest river in France, spanning more than 600 miles, this river connects seemingly disparate wine regions. Why else would Sancerre, with its Kimmeridgian limestone terroir be connected to Muscadet, an appellation that is 250 miles away?
Secondary in relevance to the historical, climatic, environmental, and cultural importance of the river are the wines and châteaux of the Jardin de la France. The kings and nobility of France built many hundreds of châteaux in the Loire but wine preceded the arrival of the noblesse and has since out-lived them as well.
Diversity abounds in the Loire. The aforementioned Kimmeridgian limestone of Sancerre is also found in Chablis. Chinon, Bourgueil, and Saumur boast the presence of tuffeau, a type of limestone unique to the Loire that has a yellowish tinge and a chalky texture. Savennières has schist, while Muscadet has volcanic, granite, and serpentinite based soils. In addition to geologic diversity, many, grape varieties are grown there too: Cabernet Franc, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Melon de Bourgogne are most prevalent, but (to name a few) Pinot Gris, Grolleau, Pinot Noir, Pineau d’Aunis, and Folle Blanche are also planted. These myriad of viticultural influences leads to the high quality production of every type of wine: red, white, rosé, sparkling, and dessert.
Like the Rhône and Provence, some of Kermit’s first imports came from the Loire, most notably the wines of Charles Joguet and Château d’Epiré—two producers who are featured in Kermit’s book Adventures on the Wine Route and with whom we still work today.
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2024 Bourgueil Rosé “La Ritournelle”
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Where the newsletter started

Where the newsletter started
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch