What's Pressoir Drinking? Stéphane Bernaudeau, Vin de France "Les Onglés"

by Max Goldberg Liu
Wednesday May 19, 2021

Our 4-part THIRST for the Loire Valley series prompted some, well, thirst for Chenin Blanc, and this bottle from Anjou wizard Stéphane Bernaudeau was a perfect way to slake it.

From a 2 hectare parcel on schist, Les Onglés may be Stéphane’s “entry” wine but it shows a remarkable amount of personality and complexity, just like the man, who farms his vines biodynamically, by horse, and usually untrained (ie. no wires).

Aromas of lemon oil and spices lead to an almost shocking amount of salinity and precision on the palate, surrounding a core of stone fruit. The minerality is really quite astounding, as is the length. What’s more, the wine is only 11% alcohol and is a perfect example of how some growers and terroirs can achieve one of the hardest feats in wine - creating power and intensity without weight, a phenomenon that was ascribed to the vineyard of Les Amoureuses by Fred Mugnier at La Paulée this year.

Now, it is not quite fair to compare the wines in any capacity, but for me, there is an echo of that same sensation and emotion.

This wine was a perfect pairing with cheese, especially with an Epoisses brought by Justine to lunch.

Stéphane trained with the now legendary Mark Angeli of La Ferme de Sansonnière and is firmly established as a pillar now of the natural/biodynamic school of winemaking in the Anjou region. The wines are extremely limited in production as he only owns 3 hectares of vines, but are available from many of the top NYC retailers like Chambers Street, Flatiron, and Crush. Stéphane also makes an even more limited and rare Chenin from a vineyard called Les Nourissons which has an average vine age of over 110 years - if you find a bottle, definitely snatch it up!