Sylvain Martinez

St Georges des 7 Voies, Anjou

Sylvain Martinez is a top guy making mineral, delicious wine in Anjou.

A man of humility, seriousness and patience, Sylvain worked at a number of different wineries before working, most recently, with Olivier Cousin. With Cousin he learned a great amount on soil and plant health and how to maximise fruit quality.

Today he farms a couple of small parcels very close to the southern bank of the Loire River and about half an hour east of Angers. He is producing wine from chenin blanc, gamay, grolleau and pineau d'aunis. The chenin is grown on classic, black Anjou schist while the pineau d'aunis is grown on fine, remarkably sandy soil.

His winemaking is very simply done in a cold, rented winery near his home. The chenin, gamay, grolleau and pineau d’aunis are vinified individually, while two very precise and classical sparkling cuvees are also produced — Rosabul and Gazouillis. The reds are always very aromatic, earthen and peppery (in part, from the sandy soils) with a core of minerality that is accentuated by lengthier macerations. Everything goes in to barrel, and the wines as a result all have a very fine, resolved structure. The whites are bottled roughly a year post-harvest and the reds a little earlier.

 

Information on previous wines

  • Century-old pineau d’aunis grown on fine sand just south of Brissac in Anjou. Elevage in barrel

    2021 From a lighter year. Delicate, restrained fruit with spicy, earthen aromatics, resolved tannins and a deep mineral core.

    2020 Delicate, restrained fruit with spicy, earthen aromatics, resolved tannins and a deep mineral core.

    2019 From an excellent and age-worthy year, with complex and long flavours. Saturated red stone fruits, earth and minerality, with satin texture.

    2015 From one of our favourite vintages in this part of the Loire. Deep and mineral.

  • Old-vine gamay grown on sand with elevage in barrel

    2021 From a lighter year. Destemmed, macerated in an open-top fermenter for several weeks before being run to barrel for elevage. Steely, deep and restrained in its fruit expression, with pronounced pepperiness from the sand and a slightly sappy element. The extended maceration has promoted resolved tannins and a very mineral, gastronomic edge.

    2020 Resting.

    2019 From an excellent year. Deep and supple with very long tannins thanks to the length of maceration. Red-fruited and mineral.

    2017 From an excellent year. Structured and classical.

  • Grolleau grown on sand in the village of La Thoureil. Elevage in barrel

    2020 An excellent rendition of the cuvée – medium bodied, with earthen varietal aromatics and restrained fruit with a mineral core.

    2017 Excellent growing conditions have resulted in a medium-bodied wine with lower alcohol and perfect physiological ripeness. Earthen varietal aromatics and restrained fruit with a mineral core.

    2016 Destemmed and, largely, crushed, with an extra week of maceration taking place after post-fermentation. After pressing, the wine was run to barrel and as a result has less of the primary character of, say, Jerome Lambert’s tank-raised wines. This means no dissolved CO2, but a wealth of aromatic complexity and flavour. Earthen fruit, somewhere between nebbiolo and syrah. Freshness but with seriousness due to the longer maceration and ultimately a very high quality vintage.

    2014 Resting.

    2013 From a challenging vintage during which many growers in the region struggled with ripening. Earthen, with slightly more tannic presence than later vintages.

  • Gamay, grolleau and pineau d’aunis, grown on sand.

    2020 A slightly earlier-picked and very lightly macerated blend of these three varieties. Fine and lightly peppery with tension, freshness and an ABV of 11.5%.

  • Direct press chenin blanc grown on schist, with elevage in barrels.

    2020 Deep, serious and mineral, with concentrated varietal character.

    2019 Deeply mineral, with a tense, concentrated structure and a strong sense of verticality.

    2017 From an excellent year resulting in perfect physiological ripeness.

    2013 Mineral, energetic and refreshing.

  • Chenin blanc grown on schist and macerated in amphora.

    2021 Less broad and concentrated than the 2019. Deep, but with more primary and brisk fruit.

    2019 From an extraordinary harvest. The longer maceration (9 months) has allowed the tannins to drop out and the fruit to really crystallise. Svelte, broad, mineral and precise with delicate fruit and spice.

  • Chenin blanc, grown on schist in Martigne-Briand, petillant naturel.

    2021 From a lighter year. Dry, tense, direct and mineral, with very pure varietal character.

    2020 Just off-dry, pure and mineral.

    2019 Off-dry, complex and compellingly acidic.

    2013 Off-dry, with great balance between the sugar and varietal acidity.

  • Rosé of grolleau, gamay and pineau d’aunis grown on sand, petillant naturel

    2021 Dry, mineral and very pale, with a delicate suggestion of spicy pineau d’aunis fruit, the taut acidic structure of gamay and the earthy restraint of grolleau. Holds plenty of gas on day two.

    2020 Dry and mineral, with red fruit, lightly spicy earthen notes and fine, persistent petillance.

    2019 Close to dry and a particularly mineral year, with extra breadth and complexity.

    2017 A blend of chenin and grolleau, with the chenin directly pressed and the juice from the grolleau bled from an existing ferment. Disgorged before release, the final wine is mineral and vertical with laser-like precision.

  • 2007 -Old-vine sauvignon blanc from Faye d’Anjou aged untopped under flor for 11 years. Resembling vin jaune in terms of the developed aromas and flavours but with a different acidic framework. Saline, complex and profound.