star (2013-03-14)
Nie Clos, a Claude Papin, tak to jest jak się jest głuchym;-) Więcej info (pralinka) u Wine Doctora.
As I have already written, Claude resides in a small hamlet just off the D54, very close to Beaulieu sur Layon, and so it is no surprise that his portfolio of Layon cuvées have the Coteau du Layon Beaulieu appellation. There is one exception though, and that is Les Rayelles, a cuvée of extraordinarily rich potential made from fruit originating from the upper slopes of the Haut de la Garde vineyard, as explained in my account of Claude's Anjou cuvées above. The other wines are from Beaulieu vineyards though, there being a trio which begins with Les Rouannières, with a terroir largely of volcanic spilite, a rock known locally as pierre bise and which is embodied not only in the name of Claude's domaine, but also in the name of the hamlet where the Papin family reside. The Chenin vines planted in Les Rouannières produce what may well be Claude's greatest example of Coteaux du Layon, but there are also both Cabernets and Gamay, this vineyard being the source of the aforementioned Anjou reds.

Claude's next Layon climat is the Clos de la Soucherie, another fine source of Coteaux du Layon, in this case from a predominantly carboniferous terroir. In ancient times this land was a great forest, and today the bedrock here is rich in the lapidified remains of these trees, although the soils themselves are also in some areas peppered with more igneous rocks known as pierre carré. Finally in his Beaulieu trio is L'Anclaie, a vineyard which sits atop the slope above the Layon, leaving it more exposed to local winds and distancing it a little from the river mists which encourage botrytis. It has a complex terroir, very schistous with more of the aforementioned phthanite. Although many might regard Les Rouannières as the domaine's premier vineyard in the Coteaux du Layon appellation, these latter two sites have great capability and my experiences with the wines has on occasion been breathtaking.
wino14418#47200