Noëlla Morantin
Touraine, Loire Valley, France
Noëlla Morantin left a marketing career in her late twenties to become a winemaker. She trained with some of the great names of natural wine and has since become a key figure in the Loire's Cher Valley. Her elegant Sauvignon Blanc, Gamay and Côt have earned her a place on the wine lists of top restaurants.
Noëlla's domaine is in Pouillé, on the south bank of the Cher in the Loir-et-Cher. The Cher Valley is a hotspot for natural wine in the Loire, home to Clos Roche Blanche and other pioneers. Here the vines grow on clay and flint over limestone, with some sandier, alluvial parcels, which give her wines their freshness and finesse.
Wine was part of Noëlla's childhood. Her father had a small vineyard near Pornic, on the Atlantic coast, and every year the family harvested it together. They made just one barrel of red and one of white, for their own table. Noëlla grew up and built a career as a marketing director at a communications company, but she was "terribly bored" at her desk. In 2000 she resigned and went back to school to study viticulture and oenology.
During her studies she trained with some of the leading figures of natural wine. She worked with Philippe Pacalet in Bourgogne, with Agnès and René Mosse in Anjou, and with Marc Pesnot in Muscadet. In 2004 she met Junko Arai, the owner of the Bois Lucas estate, who hired her to run her vineyards. Noëlla managed Bois Lucas for four years. In 2008 she started her own domaine, first renting vines from her friends and mentors Catherine Roussel and Didier Barrouillet of Clos Roche Blanche. She later bought part of the former Bois Lucas vineyards, including the parcels Les Pichiaux and Chez Charles.
The domaine today covers about six hectares of Sauvignon Blanc, Gamay, Côt and Cabernet Franc. In 2019 she pulled up her Cabernet Sauvignon to plant Romorantin, an old local variety. The vineyards have been certified organic since 2008. Noëlla bottles all her wines as Vin de France, which lets her work freely outside the appellation rules.
In the cellar, she keeps things simple. Fermentation takes place in large wooden vats, and the wines age for one to one and a half years in old barrels. She adds only a small amount of sulphur at bottling. The result is precise, elegant natural wine.
Noëlla Morantin has become one of the Loire's most respected natural winemakers!
