To be honest, my experience of wines that come from historic monuments is mediocre. It’s perfectly understandable, the château is the main business and wine is of secondary importance.
We were expecting this scenario to play out when we first tasted the wines of Chateau de Nitray in Athée sur Cher.
Just 30 minutes from us here in Noizay, Chateau de Nitray is a private chateau that is still in family hands, and it also has a vineyard, currently run by François de L’Espinay. François has been at the helm for the past 18 months after studying at the Lycée Viticole in Amboise.
He’s doing a pretty good job and one or two of the wines in particular were a lovely surprise. They are also incredible value for money. He’s clearly doing good things and is working really hard to improve the quality of both the vineyard and the wines he’s making.
After tasting the wines at the Salon de Vins in Angers at the beginning of February, we visited the chateau last week to have a look around and retaste some of the wines we had earmarked.
We were very warmly received by François who showed us around. Although the chateau itself it still a private home and therefore not open to the public, the grounds are lovely and you can have a look around the chapel, fruit drying room and pigeon house (one of the most impressive ones I’ve seen and complete with rotating ladder and wooden pivot).
After having a look in the winery (which is based in a very old building dating back to 1523) we went into the warmth of the tasting room for a tasting of the chateau’s wines.
We particularly like the Côt (Malbec) and bought a few bottles for ourselves and to show during our tastings.
It’s certainly somewhere we will take guests this year as our afternoon activity as it combines lovely architecture and history with decent wine and a friendly English speaking welcome.
The picture shows François de L’Espinay standing beneath a portrait of his great, great, great grandfather. The wry smile says it all. He has a great sense of humour!
