Domaine aux Moines, a now 12-hectare estate set in the heart of one of the Loire’s most enigmatic vineyards, La Roche-aux-Moines, was founded in 1981 by the tireless Monique Laroche. By the time her daughter Tessa joined the estate in 2003, Monique had made great progress in restoring the vineyard to its past glories through extensive replanting, even expanding the family’s holdings in the process. The renovation of the vineyards and evolution in winemaking has only snowballed under the direction of Reims-trained Tessa Laroche, catapulting Domaine aux Moines to a touchstone producer in what is widely considered one of the greatest Chenin terroirs of the Loire Valley.

The much celebrated, albeit small 156-hectare appellation of Savennières occupies the exposed south-facing schist and sandstone slopes of the Loire’s north bank just south of Angers. Across the river lie the golden mistlands of greater Anjou, home to the great sweet wines of the Layon tributary. Savennières, by contrast, is almost always dry.

Unusually for Loire Valley, Savennières has two official sub-appellations that rank amongst the smallest in France. The Roche-aux-Moines vineyard―perched high atop the wider Savennières appellation―traces its roots back to the Cistercian monks of the 12th century, who also planted the legendary Coulée de Serrant next door. Its name, The Monks' Rock, also refers to the acidic schist bedrock and soils littered with volcanic rocks. Tessa Laroche is one of only 12 vignerons to own a parcel in this prestigious 35-hectare vineyard.

The New Savennières

Since her arrival, Tessa has taken it upon herself to turn the modern stereotype of Savennières—a late-blooming wine built on cerebral austerity—on its head. The work started in the vineyards, where Laroche amplified her mother’s lead in replanting many of the Esca-affected older vines with massale selections from her best-performing vines. By 2012 the estate was certified organic, and step-by-step, biodynamic elements have been woven in, even if Laroche maintains a more pragmatic approach to farming than her hardcore neighbours, the Joly family. Old vines and low yields―between 20 and 30 hl/ha―play a key role in the aromatic intensity and palate depth of Laroche’s Savennières. The grapes are picked perfectly ripe and pristine in successive ‘tries’—a method of harvest not de rigueur in an appellation where unripe picking can often be buttressed by overripe grapes to give the impression of dry richness.

The winemaking, too, has evolved significantly and for the better. Laroche does not believe you should wait decades for Savennières to become delicious or gratifying. In the cellar, her mother’s yellow Vaslin press―which would aggressively extract the juices―has been replaced by two pneumatic presses. Like Richard Leroy across the river, Laroche prefers to oxidize the juice (following the principle that whatever oxidizes in the must won’t oxidize later in the bottle). The grapes ferment naturally in cuve before aging in 400-litre barrels, which are slowly giving way to 20-hectolitre foudres, bringing further volume and freshness. To protect the wine through its aging, the wine spends up to 18 months nourishing on its protective lees, while the addition of sulphur is keenly questioned at every stage. None is added at the press nor after malolactic conversion, which Laroche always encourages, believing the finest Savennières require the conversion to balance the soil’s livewire acidity. A little sulphur is added at bottling, which tightens up the structure and brings more precision to the flavours.

A Question of Taste

Tessa Laroche deserves much credit for bringing such transparent focus and precision to this ancient and sometimes divisive terroir. And while her wines―of which there are just two―bristle with the kind of earth-to-glass purity that lovers of Guiberteau and Chidaine will be familiar with, the result could not be more unique. Yes, they are many top-drawer dry Chenin from the Loire Valley. However, Laroche’s unusual volcanic terroir and microclimate give a remarkably different expression of Chenin Blanc to the white limestone of Saumur or the tuffeau bedrock of Montlouis. Despite their seductive approachability, there’s an aloofness in the mouth-coating density, nerve, and sinew of great Savennières that one does not often find in those other regions. In the right hands, these soils give a feeling of power without being powerful. Likewise, the depth charge of dark-hued minerals―smoky and suggestive of flint or the smell of rain―flickers on the palate rather than slicing through the texture. Doug Wregg of the domaine’s UK importer Les Caves du Pyrene―Sir Doug to those who know him―recently wrote that the domaine’s 2021 Roche-aux-Moines “sang like a nightingale with a bomb up its ass.” Benchmark Savennières can be as provocative and thought-provoking as it is beautiful, compelling and unique.