2022 Domaine des Trouillères, "Annolium" Blanc, Cotes d'Auvergne AOC, France

Raised a world away from France, in Tahiti, Mikaël Hyvert got into wine via agriculture, upon bonding with a local farmer who emphasized a respect for the natural world and the importance of mindful farming. A family friend who worked in the wine trade would show Hyvert how wine combined farming with his other passions—history and archaeology—and he soon enrolled in Bordeaux’s Blanquefort viticulture school. That’s where he became enchanted with natural wines, especially those produced in the Loire Valley, and began to seek work with legendary Loire producers like Olivier Lemasson, Herve Villemade and Thierry Puzelat before manning cellars in Chile, Argentina and Bordeaux. In 2015, he and partner ​​Camille, a trained archeologist, settled in Les Martres-de-Veyre, Auvergne, a lesser-known and quite rugged area of the Loire marked by intense valleys and plateaus, and soils that range from pure volcanic to calcareous. Two years later, they inherited the 5.8 hectare Domaine des Trouillères from its retiring owner, Jean-Pierre Pradier, founder of the Cotes d’Auvergne AOC. Immediately, they began to farm biodynamically, and have since earned certification. Vines range in age from 35- to 80-years-old, and are planted between 380 and 500 meters in elevation. While most of their production is dedicated to gamay d’Auvergne (a local version of gamay), they also craft chardonnay and pinot noir, both of which end up in this intriguing medium-bodied bottling. Chardonnay dominant, the pinot inclusion is pressed off its skins to eschew coloration. Fermentation with indigenous yeasts happens in stainless steel before aging in fiberglass vats. On the palate, it’s tense and mineral-forward, delivering a balance of pear, Mirabelle plum and lemon blossom flavors. Organically grown, certified biodynamic, low intervention/natural wine.