La Grande Pièce is a blend of roughly two thirds Grolleau and one third Gamay. Even at full maturity, as here, Grolleau produces light, low alcohol wines with lots of acidity and an earthy quality. The Gamay adds some bright cherry fruits and stony minerality. Lots of freshness this year in this brilliant, quintessential Loire red.
A lean vintage, as in a very small production, meaning this year we were only able to get hold of a few bottles.
Mai & Kenji have made a name for themselves for producing rare and expressive wines from 4 hectares of vines they took on in Anjou after a journey that started at a Japanese winery Kenji was interning at, via Vancouver (Kenji's home and where he and Mai met) then to the Loire where they impulsively bought land and set about establishing themselves. Over a relatively short period of time they have begun to produce distinctive wines of great quality, although they themselves admit they are still learning to understand the potential of the land they work on.
