Guide
to the Loire regions
Orléans
and Orléans-Cléry
Grower
Profiles
Valérie
Deneufbourg
The Deneufbourgs are new to wine, having arrived in the
region, complete with their five children, in 2005. Husband Christophe
hold down a job as a full time agronomist based in Paris, commuting there
daily. The running of the domaine is very much the responsibilty of Valérie,
who before embarking on the career of a vigneron
studied viticulture in Pessac-Léognan.
Wine
Overview :
Valérie owns no vines, electing instead to rent from
eight different retired growers, all of whom were members at the
co-operative. The legacy of these rental agreements means that she is
obliged to deliver the equivalent of 5 hectares of grapes there, although
half of this fruit is Gamay which goes for Vin de Pays. This leaves her
free to concentrate on the wines for the appellation Orléans, and
although she does work 1.3ha of Cabernet Franc, she doesn’t consider
this to be viable as yet to produce her own Orléans-Cléry. The vineyards
are in four different communes, but are all within 5 kilometres of the
cellar. The red grapes are all machine harvested, but she prefers to hand
pick the Chardonnay.
She operates in
an open wooden barn in a side street in the village. The previous owner, a
furniture maker, worked out of here, and it was a relatively simple
operation to install a few stainless steel and fibre glass tanks. Below
the house is a 500 year old vaulted cellar which is used for storage.
The Wines :
The wines are marketed under the Rencontres label, meaning ‘meeting’ or ‘conviviality’. The
first three vintages of Orléans blanc produced so far show this is work
in progress, although the wines display an emerging Chablis-esque style,
on the basis that they are quite chalky and mineral and do not see any
malo-lactic fermentation. The first three examples of Orléans rouge, made
from around 80% Pinot Meunier and passed through old oak for a couple of
months, show some variable quality, but at best are charmingly rustic and
pretty. I expect to see better wines emerging in future as she settles
into her stride.
Valérie Deneufbourg
28 Rue du Village
Cléry-Saint-André
T : + 33 2 38 45 97 53
P : + 33 6 14 57 37 61
F : + 33 2 38 45 72 04
unvinunerencontre@deneufbourg.fr
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