2009 Arbois, La Prieuré
Domaine du Prieurié
Jean-Marc Gallou
It is rare to come across a 100% Arbois – also called Menu Pineau. According to Wikipedia this white grape variety comes from Touraine and there are around 650 hectares planted – 600 in Loir-et-Cher. A small percentage is allowed in Vouvray but is rarely used. I notice in the Vouvray décret of 8th June 2011 makes no mention of Arbois – need to check whether Arbois is no longer allowed in Vouvray.
This 2009 Arbois, which is unwooded, was brought out by one of our group on Saturday evening. It was attractively crisp clean and mineral. It certainly wasn't showing its age and clearly would keep for many more years.
Domaine du Prieuré in Valaire has been in the hands of the same family since 1720.
Since 1999 they have also offered chambres d'hôtes.
I've only tried one wine from the Arbois grape variety, and it was excellent. Last year when visiting Vignobles Dinocheau, the winemaker poured their "Orbois," and said that they called it that so as not to cause any confusion with the Jura appellation Arbois. I notice that the Arbois from Domaine du Prieurie is AOC Touraine. I don't remember what the Dinocheau wine was; maybe just Vin de France. Maybe Arbois is not allowed in the Touraine appellation anymore. I think that Laurence Dinocheau said something about the Touraine AOC having become more restrictive as far as grape varieties go.
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