La Grange Tiphaine

The first taste?

The world is a spiders web and many times we are connected by some small thread – This is what happened when Peter and Juliette, from Clos de la Meslerie, introduced us to the wines from La Grange Tiphaine. Peter and Juliette were in Copenhagen as exhibitors at Raw wine fair and we had invited them for a classic danish ”Smørrebrød” lunch, at the end of the lunch Peter mentioned that his neighbours were looking for an importer in Denmark and since he really enjoys the partnership with us, had promised to mention the option for us to work together – we contacted Damien and Coralie and asked for samples and the rest is history.

The People:

La Grange Tiphaine was created at the end of the 19th century by Antoine Delecheneau, followed by five generations: Antoine, Alphonse, Adrien, Jackie and now, Damien. Damien studied oenology and viticulture in Bordeaux and worked at wineries in California and South Africa, and returned to the winery in 2002 to take over the operations there. He brings a level of scientific precision to natural winemaking that we haven’t seen in many others. The design of the winery and the steps he takes to ensure quality rival some of the most technically advanced wineries in the world, but this is all in the name of using as few additives as possible, to evoke their precious terroir in its purest sense. As of 2008 Coralie, Damien’s wife, joined the family as a fully active partner in the life and work of their 15-hectare vineyard. Damien’s talent as a winemaker is evident from the multitude of beautifully balanced, elegant, precise red, white, rosé and sparkling wines that he crafts from five different varieties: Chenin blanc, Côt (Malbec), Gamay, Cabernet Franc, and even the ancient and rare Loire variety called, Grolleau. The wines are in the AOCs of Touraine-Amboise and Montlouis-sur-Loire. The wines are all different; tender or round, fine or fruit filled, dry or sweet, but they all share the common thread of careful work in the vines that make for beautifully balanced, terroir driven, precise wines. In 2016, Damien was honored to take the lead in Montlouis, becoming president of the appellation. He followed in one of his idol’s footsteps, François Chidaine, and has since led the charge to use helicopters to avert frost damage that has been rampant in the Loire Valley over the past several years. At least in 2017, they were very pleased to completely stop the frost damage and save all the grapes in the Montlouis appellation. Following the success of the helicopters there has been invested in permanent wind towers to combat the spring frost

In the vineyard

• Organic( since 2008) and biodynamic ( since 2014) grown grapes – no herbicides, no pesticides, natural compost only.
• Native grasses planted between the rows to add to a self-sufficient ecosystem and inhibit erosion.
• De-budding and de-shooting by hand to ensure that each vine is focusing all of its energy on the selected shoots and grape bunches, limiting the number of bunches produced by each vine.
• Bud- thinning and leaf-thinning by hand of each vine to allow each bunch greater exposure to sunlight and keeping the bunches ventilated thereby reducing disease.
• Hand-picked grapes.
• low yields.
• Soft pruning of the wines - To reduce big wounds and stress for the vines.

In the cellar

• Use of naturally occurring yeasts only
• The reds have maceration and fermentation in cement tanks with no punch down or pumping over / only infusion.
• The whites are made with direct pressing, settling in cement tanks. Fermentation either in cement tanks or in barrels with no racking on fine lees.
• No fining or cold-treatment of the wine.
• Sulfites are sparingly added to the wines at pressing time and just before the bottling.
• slight filtration on Diatomaceous earth if needed.