Laurent Saillard 'En Famille' Vin de France 2022

Laurent Saillard first made a name for himself as an early evangelist of the NYC natural wine movement in the 2000s at his Brooklyn restaurant, Ici. His love affair with natural wine eventually took him to France for a more hands-on approach, and for the last decade he’s been making natural wines of his own in the Loire. After an initial period experimenting with rented vineyards, he purchased half of the Clos Roche Blanche estate upon the owners’ retirement in 2015, and now owns 6 hectares which are farmed through a combination of organic and biodynamic techniques. Ironically, a good amount of his wine ends up back in NY bars and restaurants, where it is much in demand! ‘En Famille’ is made of a 70/30 blend of organically farmed malbec and pinot noir, and sees one week of maceration (half whole cluster, half destemmed) and one year of aging in sandstone amphora and 500L old oak barrels with zero sulfur addition. This suave, dark stranger mesmerizes with lively layers of plum, blueberry, violet, and wild herbs, all wrapped up with low alcohol and velvety tannins. Certified organic, low-intervention/natural wine.