Introducing Mariette et Albéric
We are thrilled to welcome the wines of Mariette Gaillard et Albéric Dietrich to the UK for the first time, a young couple based in Rablay-sur-Layon in the Loire valley.
Gaining experience with Cyril Le Moing and Michel Guignier before embarking on their own project in 2016, the young couple have pieced together a modest 2.5ha of vines around the storied villages of Rablay-sur-Layon, Beaulieu-sur-Layon and Faye D'Anjou. Their Cabernet Franc, Grolleau and Chenin Blanc vines are aged up to 75 years old and are planted on varying mixes of clay, schist and gravelly soils on sites surrounding the nearby Layon river.
Their approach in the vineyard mirrors that of their mentors, a careful and tender hand embracing the philosophies of organics with certain biodynamic principles also employed. Yields are kept intentionally low, aiming for between 15hl/ha and 20hl/ha but it is not unusual for them to harvest as low as 10 hl/ha.
In their small cellar just off the main road in Rablay-sur-Layon, the pair were in the midst of bottling their 2020 wines when we knocked on their door last September. The space, in a converted old garage, is mostly taken up by their ancient basket press, the rest by barrels. Their cellar work is highly influenced by their time with Cyril Le Moing, and so they have no machinery and barely any electrics in the space - everything from bottling to labelling is done by hand. Grapes are processed gently and all wines see a year in old barrels.
We received the 2020 wines at the end of last year and now after a short rest they are tasting magnificent - the whites crystalline and elegant, the reds structured and enigmatic. Both would develop nicely if given time to age further. Alongside those we also received 3 cases of their 2017 late harvest Chenin ‘L’Alexandrin’ - a meditative take on the grape that was raised in both barrel and demijohn.
Understandably, we received only a small amount of wines from Mariette and Albéric and these are available to our wholesale customers now. For further information please have a look on our website or get in touch by email.