We have already tried to build an ark for forgotten grape varieties, and our list is still populated by examples of the rare and autochthonous. Sometimes they feature gloriously on their own – Gringet from Les Vins de Belema or Ribeyrenc Noir from Thierry Navarre, in other examples they will be part of a “blouge-y” field blend of mingled reds and whites such as Florent Plageoles Terroirists Printemps. When commercial imperatives push consumers towards the tried and tested – and the homogenous – it is wonderful to see producers reviving and replanting traditional varieties and giving us the opportunity to sample different flavours in wines.
So, a big mention in dispatches for the Romorantin grape. Legend has it that Romorantin was introduced to the Loire by King Francis 1 (1494–1547). The commune of Romorantin-Lanthenay not far from the grape’s stronghold in Cheverny, suggesting that the grape’s name reflects a geographical connection – the king was from the region.
DNA fingerprinting has shown that Romorantin is one of many grapes to be the result of a cross between Gouais Blanc and Pinot Fin Teinturier, making it a sibling of Chardonnay, amongst others.
DNA fingerprinting has shown that Romorantin is one of many grapes to be the result of a cross between Gouais Blanc and Pinot Fin Teinturier, making it a sibling of Chardonnay, amongst others.
Romorantin is the designated grape for Cour-Cheverny appellation and around thirty producers work with it. Its reputation is being secured by natural wine growers who see its potential and are able to produce extraordinary wines from it.
The Puzelat family have worked with the grape for some time. Originally, it was as part of a joint project with Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme and a centenarian vineyard (planted on French rootstock). This wine was a veritable vin de garde and had an intensity that lingered remarkably on the palate. Aromas jostled for attention: lemon and chalk followed by mixed white fruits (white peaches, Mirabelle plums, pears), honey, almonds and clean, minerally scents reminiscent of finely-spun wool. It was complex on the palate, too, extremely vinous showing lemon-cream and honey. Ripe apple juiciness gave way to tart, steely acidity that sings like a taut violin string, providing balance and structure for the full, luscious fruit. On the second day the acidity became steelier and more penetrating, the flinty minerality more pronounced taking on back notes of ginger, white pepper, pear-skin and hell’s granny smiths…
More recent versions have been from younger vineyards planted to selection massale vines. From here, the wines are more fluid, expressing a bright chalky freshness. The latest vintage is almost a weightless 11%.
Hervé Villemade, in Cour-Cheverny, makes two versions of Romorantin. We import “Les Acacias”, a wine characterised by its power and sheer intensity. Here the fleshy apricot fruit melds with a touch of oxidation and creates a multi-layered wine with liquorice bitters, warm ginger and fine tannins. The grapes are from vines average 50+-year-old and the wine is half-fermented in amphora and half in demi-muid before ageing in same vessels for 14 months with a further 10 months thereafter in bottle.
“Nature admits no lie”, as Carlyle said, and Courtois (Claude) often says that his wine is made from “true grapes.” The wines he and Etienne craft are pure and vibrantly alive, testament to outstanding farming and precise winemaking. Claude, as we know, is one of the wild men of the region, fierce, generous and capricious, guiding beautiful, naturally expressive wines to the bottle. There is something about Romorantin with almost sherry aromas of oxidation and this example grows in the glass as if eating the oxygen that should be destroying it. The texture evolves into lanolin; warmth pervades the mouth. It is like nothing you have ever tasted, and one imagines that every time one tries the wine it will be a different experience.
2024 Romorantin Frileuse, Clos du Tue-Boeuf
2022 Cour-Cheverny “Les Acacias”, Hervé Villemade
2023 Romorantin, Les Cailloux du Paradis
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Interested in finding more about the Romorantin wines mentioned? Contact us directly:
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