Vouvray Sec "Buvez du Bon Pinon"

France
Loire
2022

100% Chenin Blanc. This 2020 "Buvez du Bon Pinon" is a very special release from Julien Pinon, in honor of the preceding generations of the family. His great grandfather Camille planted the vines for "Bon Pinon" in 1945 on silex noir or "black flint" soils unique to their tiny corner of Vouvray, the northerly Vallée de Cousse. Fermentation and aging took place in the oldest wood in the cellar: port wine barrels bought by Julien's grandfather Claude.The striking label is the original from Camille's release back in the early 1950's. 

Like all Pinon vines, this parcel is certified-organic and worked and harvested by hand. The bunches were direct-pressed and the must moved by gravity into tank. The spontaneous fermentation in the old port barrels was long and slow in the cold cellar. The wine was aged on its lees for a year in the same barrels. It is a sec style. The 2022 finished with only 1 gram of residual sugar per liter (along with 4.8 grams of acidity). 

94 points
"The special old vine bottling of Vouvray Sec, “Buvez du Bon Pinon”, made its debut in the 2020 vintage. Readers may remember that Julien Pinon made this wine in hommage to his greatgrandfather, Camille Pinon, and the wine is made from vines planted by Camille in the immediate aftermath of World War II in 1945, in a parcel of Silex Noir soils. The wine is barrel-fermented and raised in the same old casks, which happen to be the oldest that the family still owns. The 2022 follow-up to the brilliant 2020 version is also outstanding, offering up a deep and complex bouquet of apple, quince, beeswax, flinty soil tones, white lilies, iris blossoms and a touch of citrus peel in the upper register. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, young and complex, with a rock solid core of fruit from these ancient vines, great soil signature, zesty acids and superb balance on the long, vibrant and very promising finish. The 2022 version is a touch more reticent out of the blocks than the 2020, which wore its heart on its sleeve upon release, and tucking this beautiful bottle of Vouvray in the cellars for a handful of years before pulling corks would be well rewarded. 2030-2080. "
John Gilman,
View From The Cellar
July 2024

SKU/Code: 
DB4145-22
Product Line: 
Wine
White
Varietal: 
Chenin Blanc
Farming Type: 
Organic