Microson, the Audio branch of Wineterroirs, will occasionally offer living sounds to illustrate the stories. The soundtracks are hosted on Gcast, a subsidiary of the San Francisco-based-company Garageband.com

Chahaignes (Jasnières, Loire Valley).
We met Jean Pierre Robinot a year or so ago. Meeting him at tastings made us always energetic : Not only are his (natural) wines outstanding, but he shares his passion in the most unpretentious way. He makes non-filtered, long-elevage Chenin Blanc, Pineau d'Aunis and Gamay wines on Jasnières or Coteaux du Loir Appellation, or labelled as "Vin de Table" (when the agreement panel considers the wine as too atypical). His natural wines, made out of his 5,5-hectare vineyard or out of purchased grapes, are exported as far as in Japan.
Before beginning the winery in 2002, he had a wine bar in Paris : L'Ange vin ("Angel Wine" but writen in one word, Angevin also means "from Anjou" ) and was also the co-founder of Le rouge et le Blanc, the very independant wine (quarterly) magazine.
I remember that he told me about his first emotion at 17 when he found a bottle of Jasnières 1947 in the cellar of a friend's father. But the real revalation came when at the age of 23-24, in the 70's, he could buy in an auction several bottles of Pichon Longueville 1964. That was it, from then on, he wanted to learn everything about wine...

Jean Pierre Robinot began to look for vineyards near the village of Chahaignes (his home town) in 1999-2000, in a terroir which is very close to the Jasnières Appellation and shares the same qualities while being much more affordable. In a matter of years he bought several plots, 10 hectares altogether, on unplanted land in the Coteaux du Loir Appellation and gradually planted young vines. He then rented an old house which he converted into a chai. His vineyard is organicly farmed, and the young vines need a little more years to reach maturity than non-organic ones would. When we entered the house, he put aside a bunch of wicker that he will use (with nettle) for a decoction. The first room, which was the main room in this old house, is quite messy. Jean Pierre Robinot grabs glasses and shows us several cellars, some in the hill on the back of the house, some in the other location (picture on top) 50 meters away.

I don't know how many cellars he walked us to, maybe 4, or 5 ? but each was a long, cold and humid tunnel with casks or bottles. The casks always look old because the high moisture has altered the colour of the wood, developping mould on their surface, but he says they are 3-4 years old on average. He says that thanks to the high humidity, the casks "consume" less wine : in a dry atmosphere, the wood absorbs much more wine. The cellars here often have their own fireplace, like on the picture above. He says it is a mystery how the people back then could dig the exhaust duct from the top of the hill with the right orientation and connect it...
Jean Pierre Robinot is a runner, a marathonian. He has always runned, and he says wine was always a good companion in sport. Speaking of endurance, he got some : when he received us at 6 or 7 pm, he was just back from a 2000 km trip to Lyons and elsewhere (for his wines) in a non air-conditioned car (France is hot these days) but he looked full of energy and stamina...


























in mass-produced wines. In order to achieve this distinctive character and authenticity, we use only sustainably grown grapes from non-irrigated vineyards, and employ natural methods in the cellar, e.g. no filtration or use of any must concentrating devices."







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