Perrault-Jadaud / Anne-Cecile Jadaud
Chancay, Vouvray, Loire, France
Domaine Perrault-Jadaud, a partnership between oenologist Anne-Cécile Jadaud and viticulturist Tanguy Perrault, began in 2008, after the couple met while teaching at the lycée viticole at Amboise. Anne-Cécile, a native of nearby Tours, spent ten years as a consulting enologist in the south of France before returning to the Loire to teach and farm vineyards with her partner. Tanguy, a former student of philosophy and a native of Breton, cider country, also spent ten years working in viticulture before beginning his work with Anne-Cécile. Tanguy had been going back and forth between Breton and the Loire when he met the former winemaker, Jean Penillaut, of Clos Baudoin of the famed Poniatowski Vouvray estate. Tanguy bought an old press from Jean with the intention of making cider back in Brittany. Jean insisted that Tanguy had to make wine with the press and sold him a half acre of vines in Vouvray, near the Clos du Bourg.
Growing from this tiny vineyard, the couple now work approximately eight hectares of organically-farmed vines spread across 15 small parcels near their home and winery in Chançay, in the northeastern portion of Vouvray. They have Chenin vines in Vouvray, Vernou-sur-Brenne, La Rochère and Noizay, which includes the Jules Geoffroy parcel, situated near the famed Clos du Bourg, and Bidaudières, below the château of the same name, both desirable parcels.
in addition to this, they work about three hectares of organic vineyards in Nazelles-Négron, near Amboise. It is here that Anne-Cécile is able to indulge her love of red wines, as the vineyards are planted to a mixture of Côt, Cabernet Franc, Gamay, Grolleau, and Pineau d’ Aunis. Harvests are always manual by successive pickings if the vintage so requires. Fermentations are allowed to happen naturally with native yeast in barrel, and progress over a long period of time in a cold cellar. Anne-Cécile and Tanguy prefer to use as little SO2 as possible and have progressively dialed back its use over the years. The selections below include both still and sparkling versions of Vouvray Sec bottled as Perrault-Jadaud, as well as a dry red wine and a slightly off-dry Rosé made from a blend of Gamay, Côt, and Cabernet Franc, both bottled under Anne-Cécile Jadaud’s name.
For more information and a nice blog post, visit Wine Terroirs.
Our Selections
Perrault-Jadaud Vouvray Petillant Sec Haut les Choeurs 2020
Pronounced “Ho le koor,” 100% Chenin from a 3 ha, single parcel of organic 40 year old vines planted on clay/limestone soils. Tanguy and Anne-Cecile make this Petillant Sec using Methode Ancestrale; grapes are pressed and fermentation begins in both tank and barrel. The fermenting must is then bottled with about 20 grams residual sugar. The partially fermented wine completes fermentation in bottle, creating bubbles. The wine is kept sur latte (on the lees) for about 18 months before disgorgement.
Fresh and crisp, with a lively and persistent bead, this Petillant Sec features notes of lime and orange blossom on the nose, with hints of vanilla and sandalwood. The palate is fresh and lees-y with a clean and bright finish.
13,5% Alc | 1,5 g/L RS | 20mg/L SO2 | 800cs produced
A rough translation of Haut les Choeurs would be “hearts up" or “keep your hearts high" or the equivalent of “keep your chin up.." It's an old-fashioned cheer you give to exhort people to do well. On approche du sommet! Allez, haut les cœurs! = We're nearing the top! Come on, keep your chin up!
A rather poetic tasting note from jancisrobinson.com on the 2017 vintage: “Quite a special Vouvray sparkling from Tanguy Perrault and Anne-Cécile Jadaud who farm organically. Delicate mimosa notes on the nose, which become more lime leaf and lemon-verbena blossom on the palate. A wine that is lightly sketched but not light, as if it’s drawing the sky through dappled leaves into cool earth. It has the coolness of marble pebbles dropped into a stream, taut-wire acidity, sourdough savoury, lemon tense, pith bitter. It is one that doesn’t shout, that leans against the wall face to the sunlight while everyone else makes cheerful small talk. You have to slide down to the floor next to it, sit beside it on the stones, turn your face to the same sun, and wait 17/20.” – Tamlyn Currin, jancisrobinson.com, 12/19/20
Magnums of 2017 Available!
Perault-Jadaud Vouvray Sec Les Grives Soules 2022
100% Chenin from 40 to 50-year-old vines located in Noizay and Vouvray, planted on both clay soil with limestone bedrock, as well as flint soils. Organic. Grapes are direct pressed and fermented spontaneously in 1/2 tank and 1/2 barrels, ranging in age from one to ten years old.
A bone-dry Chenin with lovely green-apple and floral notes with hints of crushed shells and a touch of smoky minerality. This is medium textured with terrific minerality and freshness.
14% Alc | 2,8 g/L RS | 34mg/L SO2 | 566 cases produced
Les Grives Soûles: from the French expression "Soûl comme une grive" (drunk as a thrush) which expresses satiety (liquid and solid) after a good meal. this expression comes from the behavior of Thrushes which gorge themselves on grapes before their migrations. It is said that they are then so drunk that you can catch them with your cap.
"One of Tanguy’s original cuvées is Les Grives Soûles, from vines one-third on the flint of the plateau, two-thirds on the limestone and clay of the slopes. Vinified in old fûts, the character of the fruit and its origins shines through; it reminded me of the wines of François Pinon, albeit with an extra floral edge. If this is the effect of the new parcels on Tanguy’s wines, then it is very welcome." -winedoctor.com
Anne-Cecile Jadaud Charivari Methode Ancestrale 2022
65% Gamay and 35% Grolleau, from an organic vineyard in Franceuil, near Amboise maintained by Julien Moreau of Domaine de Cambalu. The grapes are co-fermented and bottled before completing fermentation; the finished wine has about 3 bars of pressure (meaning a nice gentle mousse), 11.5% alcohol and less than 0.5 g/l RS. This is absolutely delicious: lovely notes of strawberry and raspberry on the nose and a creamy, delicate palate. Only 1700 bottles produced. Now bottled under crown cap.
Charivari, pronounced sha·ri·va·ri, is the term for a French folk custom in which the community gives a noisy, discordant mock serenade, also pounding on pots and pans, at the home of newlyweds. The loud, public ritual evolved to a form of social coercion, for instance, to force an as-yet-unmarried couple to wed.
Anne-Cecile Jadaud Sergent Pepper VdF Pineau d`Aunis 2023
Sergent Pepper is a delicious red wine made from a tiny, 0.30 plot of organic Pineau d’Aunis maintained by Dominique Norguet in Thoré-la-Rochette in the Loir-et-Cher department of the Loire. Even though the grapes are purchased, Anne-Cecile has complete control over ripeness levels and picking dates. Harvest is obviously all done by hand. The grapes are de-stemmed, and vinification is done with indigenous yeasts in fiberglass vats for 14 days. The wine rests for an additional six months in vat before being bottled with approximately 43ppm SO2. Anne-Cecile’s Pineau d’Aunis features aromas of watermelon and white pepper, typical of the grape variety. On the palate, the wine is dense and supple with brambly fruit and soft tannins. This is a unique and expressive red wine.
Anne-Cecile Jadaud Cotillon VdF Rouge Cot 2020
The 2020 Cotillon is made from 100% Côt (Malbec) from a 0.5 ha organic vineyard planted on sandy, clay, and loam soils in Francueil, in the Touraine of the Loire. The grapes come from Julien Moreau of the Cambalu estate. Even though the grapes are purchased, Anne-Cecile has complete control over ripeness levels and picking dates. Harvest is obviously all done by hand. The grapes are de-stemmed and vinification is done with indigenous yeasts in fiberglass vats for 10 days. The wine is racked into two-year-old, used barriques where it remains for ten months before bottling with about 30ppm SO2. This is a delicious, brambly red wine with rich, dark, bright fruit. The nose features blackberries, cherries, herbs and wildflowers. On the palate, the fruit is dark and juicy, with notes of pepper, game, and stony minerality.
13,5% Alc | 22 mg/L SO2 | 258cs produced