Chenin Orange
Loire

Area: Touraine, Loire

Grape: 100% Chenin Blanc (harvested by hand)

Alcohol: 14,5% VOL.

“Chenin Orange” has a pink-gold color with copper tint. The wine has a delicate nose of dried orange peel and caramelized quince, ripe pear, grape, and a touch of cumin. Lovely round body with an impressive density, slightly creamy with well-integrated acidity. It is juicy and vibrant and slides down incredibly easily. The vines are over 70 years old, which gives a very special taste. The yield is low, and it is made from 50% loose grapes and 50% whole bunches, where the maceration takes place in steel tanks for a month. Then development in large conical French oak barrels for 7 months before bottling at the end of March. The wine has no added sulphur.

Chenin Orange is good for fried fish, chicken, or anything relatively light.

Le Rocher des Violettes is in Touraine between the Cher and Loire rivers on clay-calcareous soils. In the area among the Loire castles, in the town of St-Martin-Le-Beau, run by Xavier & Clémence Weisskopf. The soil is cultivated manually, and the grapes are picked manually.

Xavier has been running Le Rocher des Violettes since he was 25 years old, and since 2010 his wife, Clémence, has assisted him in the administrative and commercial tasks. Xavier and Clémence have worked hard to make Le Rocher des Violettes what it is today. They have restored old vines to their original condition, they have excavated the stone caves larger so that the wines can be stored in the best conditions. Their stone caves are excavated in the local stone “Tufa”, and here the wines have a constant temperature between 13-14 degrees, which is very good for ripening and storing the wine. Furthermore, they have built a cellar on 4 levels to process the wines in gravity.