Montlouis Brut NV Taille aux Loup

La Taille aux Loups from Montlouis-sur-Loire is a stunning bubbly from the Loire Valley in central France, which is home to the great Chenin Blanc grape ? an outstanding ingredient in wines such as this lovely, lively bubbly.

It is made the same way as Champagne and costs a lot less but retains a similar style in terms of taste. This sparkling wine is made from Chenin Blanc grown in the appellation of Montlouis-sur-Loire in the Loire Valley, where chalky clay and sandy clay soils share space on top of a bedrock of limestone. Only organic fertilisers are used here and all grapes are hand harvested with bunches picked into small plastic bins then fermented to 11.5 to 12% ABV in old oak barrels using only indigenous yeasts. The first fermentation leaves residual sugar of about seven to eight grams per litre and this is adjusted to 16 to 18 grams of residual sugar per litre for the second fermentation. The wine is aged for 20 months on lees in bottle and finishes with 4 to 6 grams of residual sugar, which makes it dry in style as well as taste.