© 2004, Jon-David Headrick Selections, LLC.  All Rights Reserved.

                      Marcel Lhomme, a Vouvray winemaker, goat and cattle farmer, and member of the French resistance, was shot by the Nazis.  At his death, he owned only 4 hectares of vines, all planted to Chenin Blanc, and 16 hectares of land for his livestock.  This event, though thoroughly tragic for the family, led directly to the creation of what is now considered one of the most impressive boutique wineries in the Vouvray appellation.  Marcel’s son, faced with the prospect of managing the family estate, discovered the potential to the land his father had owned sometime before 1950, and began buying adjoining parcels.  Forced into the life of a winemaker, he slowly began turning out Chenin Blanc of amazing ageability and complexity.  What began as a tragedy turned into a lifelong ambition.

 

Today, the granddaughter of Marcel owns the estate and its 13 hectares with her winemaker husband, Lionel Gauthier.  Based in the village of Reugny, one of the communes in the Vouvray appellation, Lionel has made every effort to carry on the tradition of quality that his father-in-law established in his years building the estate. 

 

It is fair to say that Lionel is a bit of a misfit in the area.  With a shocking patch of blond hair, massive build, and in-your-face intensity, he seems more Scandinavian than Loire.  At least that is what his friends thought when they started calling him the “Viking” several years ago.  After a few years, the name “Viking” had stuck, so in 1989, Lionel decided to rename the property. 

I first tasted his wines among about 100 other top wines of Vouvray at a tasting set up in a tuffeau cave in Vouvray in 2003.  They were, without exaggeration, some of the purest examples of the appellation that I had ever tasted.  His demi-sec soared through aromatic notes of fresh-cut roses and dried apricots, the mouth-feel dense but lively, and the finish persistent and dramatic.  I decided that I had to meet this man.

 

I must admit that he scared me a bit at first, with a startling intensity that I soon found out extended to his winemaking.  Lionel is not shy to admit that his wines are not consistent from vintage to vintage.  He doesn’t think that Chenin Blanc should be.  In some years, he makes only sweet wines, in some years demi-sec, in some years a little dry wine, and in some years all three.  (This poses more than a little problem for the importer who never knows what’s coming next.)  I’ve tasted all three in vintages going back to 1989, and he’s always gotten it right. 

 

Every single bunch of grapes on the property is hand-harvested, sorted, de-stemmed, crushed, and fermented in Lionel’s tiny garage cellar, and left to age in 500 liter barrels made from local chestnut (according to Lionel, oak imparts too many unwanted flavors to his wines.) 

 

The wines are bottled by hand and sold (for the most part) in Europe, where an admiring clientele waits for months for the new release.  He has graciously allocated several barrels to the United States. 

 

I would have loved to have tasted the wines that Marcel Lhomme was producing in the early 1940’s just as he would have taken pleasure in tasting the wines that his little parcel of land is producing some 60 years later.  I’m sure he would have been proud.

vouvray

 

Cépage:               100% Chenin Blanc

Vinification:        Extensive lees stirring and slow                               fermentation.

Élevage:              18 months in 500 liter chestnut

                          barrels.

Vineyard:            Hillside vineyards in Reugny,                                  composed of chalk and limestone. 

Lionel Gauthier

Harvest in 1959