Mathieu Cosme "Les Promenards" Loire Valley, France 2020

FROM EUROPEAN CELLARS:

THE WINE: Situated on the gently rolling hills of the second coast, Les Promenards comes from vines planted by his grandfather. Mineral and taught, Les Promenards is fermented by indigenous yeasts in 400L French oak barrels, then aged in stainless steel tanks for 8 months before bottling.

THE PRODUCER: Domaine de Beaumont is located just outside of Noizay, a village fronting the Loire in the far southeastern corner of Vouvray. Founded in 1930, it is currently headed by the fifth generation of the Cosme family, Mathieu. After a degree in enology and an étage of Domaine Huet, Mathieu has made a name for himself by making powerful, dry, and precise cuvées of Chenin Blanc from 13 hectares of vineyards with ideal southern and southeastern exposure These are wines that suit a former rugby player who is more comfortable behind a horse-drawn plow than behind a desk or dinner table rather than a tasting table.

If blessed, each generation in an appellation can boast a handful of rising stars – and Mathieu Cosme is, whith out a doubt, at the top of his class in Vouvray. With each cuvée at Domaine de Beaumont, Mathieu aims to capture a precise reflection of its origins. His vineyards are situated on the premier côte and deuxième côte close to, and immediately above the Loire. These slopes have the thinnest loamy soils of clay and gravel over tuffeau bedrock. These terroirs, combined with their orientation, prove to be the best sites for making drier styles of Vouvray.

The Domaine has been certified organic since the 2014 vintage, and Mathieu has plowed the soils by horse since 2005 when he finished his étage at Huet and returned to run his family’s estate. Harvest is manual, and fermentations are indigenous. The wines are fermented and aged in 400L French oak barrels, as has been the tradition in Vouvray for centuries. We’ve searched for an estate in Vouvray making chiseled and forthright dry wines and made with minimal intervention for years. With Mathieu Cosme, we not only got that, but the rising star of Vouvray.