Pattes Loup (Thomas Pico)
The natural wines of France first emerged in Beaujolais and the Loire and then quickly spread to the country’s south, where regular sunshine makes organic viticulture rather easy to pull off. For a long time, the movement ignored the more northerly climes, where organic work was deemed just too difficult.Now we have a few heroes that work organically and naturally even in extreme Chablis. Our favorite is Thomas Pico, who makes a range of wines that he calls Pattes Loup.The contrast between what he does and what his neighbors do is perhaps more striking than anywhere else in France, other than Champagne. It’s not just that he employs organic farming. For example, almost everyone in Chablis harvests by machine. Thomas harvests by hand. He also sorts the grapes by hand. Of course, there is a natural fermentation with indigenous yeasts, and minimal use of sulphites. Sure, we write about producers who do this stuff all the time, but it remains incredibly rare in Chablis.Some people criticize natural wines for tasting a bit too much alike each other, and not enough of grape or terroir. Pico’s wines are exactly the opposite. Take the flavors of Chablis and then ramp them up and you get Pico’s wines. There is just no mistaking them for something else. Old selection massale (i.e., non-clone) vines definitely help, as does pure and precise winemaking.
Details
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Grape Variety
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Vintage
2022
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Size
750ml
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Farming Practice
Organic
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Style
Aromatic , Crisp , Minerally
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Sweetness
Dry
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Body
Light Bodied