Les Roches, Jerome Lenoir, Chinon
AOC: Chinon
Varieties: Cabernet Franc, Chenin Blanc
Viticulture: Organic
Size: 4 hectares
Production: 6000/7000 cases per vintage
Terroir: Tuffeau, almost no topsoil
Varieties: Cabernet Franc, Chenin Blanc
Viticulture: Organic
Size: 4 hectares
Production: 6000/7000 cases per vintage
Terroir: Tuffeau, almost no topsoil
Jerome took over from his father Alain in the early 2000s, the exact date isn’t clear, since Alain stayed around the cellar and helped in the vineyard until he passed away in 2014. Jerome makes wine the same way his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather did, starting in 1900. Pure, rustic, traditional Cabernet Franc that sees a very long elevage, often spending more than 3 years in a variety of very old barrels before being bottled and aged a couple more years in bottle before the release.
The domaine’s vineyards are located in Beaumont en Veron, on the same hill as the most famous vineyard of the AOC, Les Picasses, and just above their tuffeau cellar. The soil here is poor, with very little clay, only about 20 centimeters before the hard tuffeau rock (limestone). Most of the Cabernet Franc is over 50 years old, with some vines nearing 100. Most are Franc de Pied, original French rootstock, with a variety of clones added to the mix. The Chenin Blanc parcel is over 100 years old and exclusively Franc de Pied.
With so little land, Jerome makes only one white, in such tiny quantities that it is very rarely imported, and one red. They both see an extensive elevage in a variety of older wood barrels and foudres. Naturally fermented in oak, they tend to be lighter, softer, more feminine than any other in the AOC. They are released much later than anyone else’s in the region, as well.
