Chinon
Grower Profiles
Fabrice, Déborah and Jean-Claude
Delalande
Domaine de la Semellerie
Located
at the summit of the commune of Cravant-les-Côteaux, Domaine de la
Semellerie could justifiably claim to have some of the best vineyard sites
within the appellation. There are 30 hectares here, situated immediately
behind a lovely old white farmhouse, erecting using the local limestone,
that hosts three generations of Delalande family. Given their high
altitude location and general exposure, these vineyards are some of the
coolest in Chinon, yet equally they also benefit from full exposure to the
sun.
Fabrice Delalande is the 6th generation to have made wine here, joining
his father, Jean-Claude in 1989. Jean-Claude is the cousin of Patrick
Delalande whose cellar can be found on the plain below Cravant after
Fabrice's grandfather elected to divide up the family vineyards in 1964.
During the 1970s and right up until the arrival of Fabrice, the wines from
the domaine were sold and distributed through Couly-Dutheil as part of
their négociant business.
In addition to the 30ha on the coteau, there are an additional nine
hectares on the alluvial terraces, but rather than keeping the two
apart, Fabrice is an advocate of cross-blending between the different
sites to achieve a more homogenous style.
The cellar is a relatively modern one situated next to the house. Inside,
there are a bank of stainless steel tanks where all the wines are
fermented, although Fabrice prefers to raise his generic red in cement.
Whilst I might consider him guilty of the blatant use of oak in the
tragically named Cuvée Kevin
Vieilles Vignes or
the Cuvée Déborah (named after Fabrice and Nicole's two children), the basic Cuvée
Domaine is a complete joy and everything I want my Chinon to be; pure,
red-black fruit with excellent Cabernet Franc definition and bottled
straight from the tank, the blend being made-up of two-thirds fruit from
the coteau and one-third off the terraces from vines that
are now between 25 and 30 years old. In a similar fashion, his very pretty (two-thirds
saignée, one-third pressurage
direct) salmon-pink rosé is clean, mineral and comes highly
recommended. The Cuvée Kevin Viellies Vignes has been
produced since 1995 and comes from a total of four hectares of 45 to 55
year old vines. This is raised for seven months in oak, whilst the Cuvée Déborah was
first released in 1999 and selected from a 1.3ha parcel of 60 year old
vines. Typically, this is raised in 25% new oak for one year.
The name of Domaine de la Semellerie will be unknown to many imbibers of
Chinon, but it deserves to be recognised as one of the top ten producers
in the appellation; not so much for the grandness of its wines, but more
for their simplicity and purity. Considering they also farm 35 hectares of
arable land and everything here is still harvested by machine, they
produce a reliable source of good value Chinon at every level.
Fabrice
and Nicole Delalande
Domaine de la Semellerie
CRAVANT-LES-CÔTEAUX
T:
+ 33 2 47 93 18 70
F: + 33 2 47 93 94 00
la-semellerie@wanadoo.fr