Barbara Lebled learned the vines next to her father, then in 2019 carved out her own plots to find out what the central Loire's grapes would say in her hands.
Backstory
Lebled is a young vigneronne based at Saint-Aignan, in the Touraine. She built her skills and her love of wine working side by side with her father, Laurent, before expanding the family holdings in 2019 and starting her own label on about 2.5 hectares. Her bottlings also appear under the playful Tchin Cheers names.
The Region
Saint-Aignan sits in the central Loire, in the Touraine, a region of gentle river valleys whose clay, limestone and siliceous soils give nervy, energetic reds and whites. It is classic country for Gamay, Cot and Sauvignon, with a deep bench of grapes available to a curious grower.
Vineyards & Farming
Lebled farms organically, using only organic fertilizers largely recycled from the vines themselves, keeping yields low, with winter cover crops, spring harrowing and no synthetic chemistry. Her vineyards hold nearly the full ampelographic range of the central Loire, from Gamay to Cot. Among them are old-vine parcels of Cot, the local name for Malbec, of 40 to 50 years grown on siliceous clay and limestone.
Winemaking
She rejects corrective oenology entirely. Fermentations run on indigenous yeasts, often with carbonic maceration, the use of sulfur is very limited, and the wines are not forcibly clarified. The result is a kaleidoscope of bottles, colors and interpretations united by spontaneity and a rare gustatory energy.
The Wines
Her debut was Gamay Sans Toi from the 2019 vintage. The range has grown into a varied set of cuvees, among them the all-Cot Hey! Un Dernier Cot from those old vines, and lighter, sappy reds and whites that change shape from one vintage to the next.
