In the harvest of 2022 myself and two friends were fortunate to go out to Anjou and spend two weeks harvest with Mai & Kenji Hodgson. We picked a lot of Chenin Blanc, cleaned a lot of equipment and met a lot of great people. Though it was hard work it never felt like it, being outside in beautiful vines, generally great weather, in one of the prettiest villages in France, getting to drink old vintages of Aussigouins & Faia at harvest lunch...
While we were there we were given the opportunity by Mai & Kenji to barrel a wine from some of the grapes we’d picked from two of the vineyards that make up some of what goes into their Faia cuvee. We filled an old barrel previously gifted to them by Richard Leroy on the morning of the day we had to head back to the UK, said a prayer and waited.
After getting the OK from Kenji that the wine was dry and ready to bottle, we headed back the next May to bottle it by hand, with no additions of course, with a label created from a picture taken on the trip of a chair behind their cellar that offered rest after a long day picking fruit.
After a long rest post bottling we have decided that now is the time to release this wine, one of less than 300. We think it’s tasting good already, but will be cellaring a good few bottles for a number of years, partly to remember those sunny harvest days and partly because we tasted some incredible old vintages of Hodgson Chenin on that trip which if this wine gets even halfway too, will be very much worth the wait.
We will be celebrating the release of the wine in Leeds at the wonderful Wayward Wines next Thursday 24th October, where we will pour it all night, along with some other delicious Chenin Blanc from our portfolio & Wayward’s.
The wine is available now online, trade please get in touch if you’d like some.
All the best!
*First picture taken in the arctic by Shaun Hencher (also the principal label art creator.)
Tonight in London @leilas_shop
Sam is cooking
Tomatoes on toast with cured beef
Rabbit leg and lentils vinaigrette
Apricot and Almond cake
@lsaillard41 pouring delicious wines
