Domaine François Chidaine : Les Tuffeaux 2020

Tasting Notes and Serving Tips: Les Tuffeaux 2020, Domaine François Chidaine

Tasting

Appearance

The wine stands out for its crystal-clear brilliance and remarkable sheen, revealing a pale yellow hue with golden highlights.

Nose

The nose gradually reveals a delicate freshness with aromas of white fruit—pear, green apple, and white peach—alongside floral notes of white blossoms and broom. Minerality expresses itself elegantly through flinty nuances, damp chalk, and wet stone, the signature of the Montlouis terroir.

Palate

On the palate, the wine shows purity and complexity, with an enveloping body and a rounded texture. Fruity notes of apple, pear, and candied citrus are supported by a pronounced minerality that gives the wine striking vertical tension. Lively acidity brings energy and freshness, while the subtle sweetness remains finely integrated. The long, elegant finish lingers on floral and saline notes.

Food and wine pairings

This wine is perfect as an aperitif or with delicate white fish such as turbot with beurre blanc. It also pairs elegantly with seafood, oysters, shellfish, creamy mushroom white-meat dishes, and aged goat cheeses.

Serving and cellaring

Les Tuffeaux 2020 is best served between 10 and 12°C. A light aeration of around 30 minutes allows the aromas to fully unfold. This wine boasts exceptional aging potential and can be cellared until around 2040, or even longer under optimal conditions.

A Mineral, Elegant Montlouis-sur-Loire: Domaine François Chidaine

The estate

While working as a farmhand on the family property, François Chidaine decided in 1989 to plant a few hectares of vines and create his wine estate in Montlouis-sur-Loire in the heart of Touraine. Deeply mindful of the environment and the balance between nature and human endeavor, François Chidaine has farmed his vineyard organically since 1992 and biodynamically since 1999.

Renowned for their quality and their authentic expression of terroir, the wines of Domaine François Chidaine are among the benchmark references for Loire wines. Domaine François Chidaine oversees a vineyard that has gradually expanded to 37 hectares (including 20 in the Montlouis-sur-Loire appellation, 10 in Vouvray, and 7 in the Touraine appellation). This winegrowing terroir is established on a mosaic of soils composed of clay, flint, and limestone, shaping the style of its Loire wines, which authentically express the distinctive character of each original terroir.

The vineyard

The vines of Les Tuffeaux 2020 are planted in Montlouis-sur-Loire, on clay-with-flint soils resting on a tuffeau subsoil—this soft, white limestone rock characteristic of the region. The parcels selected for this blend are between 30 and 90 years old, planted at a density of 6,600 vines per hectare. The estate practices conservation agriculture, with grass cover between the rows and minimal soil work to preserve mycorrhizal networks. Eco-grazing with Solognote sheep completes this regenerative approach.

The vintage

The 2020 vintage benefited from favorable weather conditions, allowing optimal ripening of the grapes. Manual harvesting was carried out in several successive passes to select only berries at ideal ripeness, ensuring concentration and aromatic complexity.

Vinification and aging

After gentle pressing and natural settling, Les Tuffeaux 2020 ferments exclusively with indigenous yeasts in 620-liter demi-muids. Alcoholic fermentation extends over several months at cool temperatures. The estate deliberately avoids malolactic fermentation in order to preserve the mineral tension and freshness characteristic of Chenin Blanc. Aging on total fine lees lasts between 6 and 11 months, developing complexity and aging potential.

Grape variety

100% Chenin Blanc