Roches Neuves is one of the Loire's great estates.

Today, we focus on their two Chenin Blancs, Clos de l'Echelier and Clos Romans. Both are absolutely dynamite expressions of the grape.

Recently, the Revue du Vin de France awarded Roches Neuves their highest ranking (3 Stars), a distinction that they share only with Clos Rougeard in the Loire. That gives you a sense of the caliber of the winemaking.

Clos de l’Echelier is a 1.8ha clos (a walled vineyard). The majority is planted with Cabernet Franc. The small amount that's planted with Chenin Blanc is sourced from 60-year-old vines. The total production is just two oval casks and comes to somewhere around 1,200 bottles per vintage. The clos is on hard limestone soils.

Clos Romans is one of the great wines of the Loire. It is a walled vineyard dating back to the 11th century. It's a site with a thin layer of sandy clay and solid limestone bedrock underneath. What results is a wine of dramatic grandeur and elegance. Production is typically around 500-600 bottles.

The 2018s at Roches Neuves are formidable. What's striking about Roches Neuves' two Chenin Blancs is that they have the power and richness of the vintage along with a rigor and detail that's exhilarating. More than one of our customers has compared Roches Neuves' whites to Corton Charlemagne. The 2018s—with their drive, minerality, and soaring grandeur—give a lot of credibility to this comparison.

Clos de l’Echelier is always the more mineral of the two wines. In 2018, there's a striking finesse and clarity to the wine. The 2018 Clos Romans has a stately presence with serious concentration, tactile minerality, and impeccable breeding.

These two Chenins possess incredible gracefulness, harmony, and refinement. The total package has few peers in the Loire. We created special 6-pack pricing to help you track what will surely evolve into two dynamite bottles of wine.

To order, email offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.

Joe Salamone

Wine Buyer
Crush Wine & Spirits