Noella Morantin Sauvignon Blanc LBL Vieilles Vignes
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Noella Morantin, originally from Brittany, started making wine in the Touraine in 2008. A random encounter with a professor of viticulture inspired her to start learning about wine, and this hobby quickly became an obsession. In 2001, she quit her job and started viti//vini school, where she interned with Agnes and Rene Mosse until 2003. In 2004, she met Junko Arai, the owner of the now defunct Touraine estate Les Bois Lucas. The two hit it off and Noella was eventually hired as head overseer of the estate. Bois Lucas's vines had previously been owned by Catherine Roussel and Didier Barrouillet of Clos Roche Blanche. Working in close proximity to each other served as a natural way for Noella and Didier to get to know each other, and the two became friends. In 2008, the decision was made to downsize CRB in half; this coincided with Noella's plans of starting her own estate, and she jumped on the opportunity when Didier proposed she rent some of his vines. Up until 2016, Noella rented 8.5 hectares of vines from ex-Clos Roche Blanche land. With Catherine and Didier's retirement and Julien Pineau's acquisition of the land, Noella has since sourced other parcels to rent, particularly for Gamay and Cot. She has also purchased 4 hectares of land she worked with at Bois Lucas, and continues to rent the Pichiaux and Chez Charles parcels to make her single-parcel Sauvignons. Sauvignon Blanc, Gamay, Cot and Cabernet Sauvignon are cultivated; the vines are tended organically (certified by Ecocert in 2008), and the wine is vinified without intervention or manipulation. Almost everything ferments in large wooden vats. The two Gamay cuvees macerate whole cluster: Mon Cher is full carbonic maceration, and grapes are treaded for La Boudinerie. The Cot is a blend of wine fermented in wooden vats, whole-cluster and de-stemmed grapes ("like a millefeuille"). Other than the Marie-Rose (a Cabernet Sauvignon rose named after Noella's grandmothers), all wines are aged a year to a year and a half in old barrels, which differs from the vast majority of Touraine wines, which get released in the early Spring. Not wanting to deal with AOC politics, Noella intentionally declassifies all her cuvees to Vin de France.