PIERRE MENARD La Varenne de Chanzé 2021 Anjou 75cl White

Grape Variety: 100% Chenin

Terroir: Steep schist parcel on a slope facing the Layon river

Vinification: Long fermentation and barrel ageing

Tasting Notes: Precise and expressive nose of quince, lemon tart and candied citrus. A mouthful both indulgent and tense, with great persistence.

Pierre loves poetry and stars:
"Nothing is as precarious as living
It’s like melting for the frost"

Louis Aragon

🍷 Serve at 10–12°C, open 30 min before tasting

Pierre Ménard is originally from Anjou and settled in Faye d'Anjou, where he expands his small vineyard a little each year. Yet before that, he travelled extensively, notably in the Douro in Portugal, in Hungary where he was marked by the experience and the terroirs, in Canada, New Zealand, and Pauillac (Château Latour)... Always asking himself a thousand questions and moving forward with great humility, he passionately works his small parcels in the evenings and on weekends, while still looking after his parents' vineyards (they are co-op members) during the week.

His plots lie on soils of great complexity and are planted with different grape varieties such as Chenin, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon. In the vineyard: cover crops, minimal intervention, and some tilling. In his renovated farmhouse cellar: low-intervention winemaking and long ageing, just the way he likes it... Pierre Ménard is one of the rising stars of Anjou, known for his precise and elegant wines.