Description
Wine Details
Alcohol Grade: 12.5%
Size: 750 ml
Vinification: One of Jacky Blot most striking creations is his TRIPLE ZERO, a lightly sparkling wine that he describes as “above all a natural wine that happens to have some bubbles.”
The TRIPLE ZERO begins with fully ripe Chenin Blanc grapes from low-yielding, 50+-year-old vines in the Montlouis appellation. There is no chaptalization; this is the first of the three ZEROS.
Blot bottles the wine after about 3 months when the fermentation in barrel has proceeded to the point where the natural sugars have almost fully fermented and only about 14 grams per liter of sugar remain. At this phase, Blot adds no liqueur de tirage, or sugar syrup, as is common practice in champagnisation; this is the second of the three ZEROS.
Just as the Triple Zero is made in the traditional method with two fermentation in bottle, it is also clarified and finished in the traditional way before the final corking. This procedure is necessary to remove the yeast deposit that develops in the bottles as the wine rests on its lees after the 2nd fermentation. And at this last stage before final bottling,
Blot adds no liqueur d’expedition or dosage of sugar-rich juice, as is commonly done; this is the third of three ZEROS. 24 months aged in lees.
The Winery: Domaine de la Taille Aux Loups
Jacky Blot is a master of Loire Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc.
Spread out among two estates, Jacky now maintains 60 acres of Chenin Blanc at Domaine de la Taille aux Loups (in Montlouis and Vouvray) started in 1989, and 33.6 acres of Cabernet Franc at Domaine de la Butte in Bourgueil.
The latter Domaine was acquired in 2002, so Jacky’s current selection of 20 Chenin-based wines far surpasses his 3 cuvées of Bourgueil. Jacky does it all when it comes to Chenin: from bone-dry to luxuriously sweet still-wines as well as Champagne method sparklers. ‘Brut Tradition’ is crafted from 40-80-year-old Montlouis Chenin vines, whose fruit is handpicked, pressed gently, and fermented in neutral barriques (9 to 10 years old) with wild yeasts and no chaptalization.
