Les Vignes de l'Ange Vin - Jean-Pierre Robinot

Jean-Pierre Robinot is a bit of a natural wine celebrity, but don’t tell him we said that. He opened a natural wine bar in Paris in 1989, and later even founded a natural wine journal in France. He doesn’t grow his grapes on the banks of the Seine though. He’s a Loire guy, his vines and cellar nestled snugly in the Loire valley somewhere between Paris and Nantes, mostly red clay, limestone and silex soils contribute to the electricity of his wines. He started making his own wine in 2002, after finding some vines in his home region of the Loire. He was commuter at first, taking the TGV train between Paris and the Loire, even naming a wine Cuvée TGV after the french high-speed train. Eventually he left Paris and moved back to the Loire for good. Robinoy started out with but a few, but now has about 10 hectares of Chenin Blanc or Pineau d’Aunis. That’s it, two varieties. He lets some of his wines ferment for years, until they’re really really ready. He also uses some grapes from other producers to make his “négoce” series called Opéra des Vins. But still always Chenin or Pineau. Jean-Pierre didn’t start making wine until he was over 50, having decided the only way he could learn more about natural wine, was to make it himself.