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Patrice Colin 'Perles Grises' Coteaux du Vendômois
Grapes — 100% Pineau d'Aunis
Region — Coteaux du Vendômois, Loire Valley, France
Tasting Notes — Pale salmon-grey in the glass — the "grey pearls" of the name — with a gentle, lively mousse. Raspberry, grapefruit, and wild strawberry on the nose, woven through with white pepper, clove, and allspice. The palate is light-bodied, bone dry, and electric — bright red fruit, a distinctive peppery spice, and a flinty mineral finish that is pure Loire. Unlike anything else in your cellar.
The Wine — 100% Pineau d'Aunis — one of the Loire's most ancient and idiosyncratic grape varieties, dating to the 13th century and found almost nowhere else on earth — from sandy, flinty clay soils on the plateau of Thoré-la-Rochette, where a drier microclimate than the surrounding valley concentrates the fruit and preserves natural acidity. A vin gris: red grapes pressed gently to yield a nearly white wine, then bottled mid-fermentation in the ancestral method. The result is something that defies easy categorization and rewards curiosity.
Farming — Certified organic, practicing biodynamic farming since 2008. Patrice farms 25 hectares across the plateau, with some parcels of Pineau d'Aunis over 80 years old. No synthetic inputs of any kind. The plateau's naturally dry conditions reduce disease pressure and make clean farming genuinely achievable — a rarity at this latitude in the Loire.
Winemaking — Bottled mid-fermentation with no additions — no added yeast, no added sugar, no dosage. The wine completes its fermentation in bottle, creating its bubbles naturally and leaving a light, lively effervescence. Undisgorged. This is pét-nat in its purest form: honest, unmanipulated, and alive.
The Producer — Patrice Colin is an eighth-generation vigneron whose family has been cultivating vines on the plateau of Thoré-la-Rochette since 1735. The Coteaux du Vendômois is the northernmost of the Loire appellations — under-the-radar, rarely discussed, and home to a handful of growers keeping Pineau d'Aunis from disappearing entirely. Patrice is the most committed of them. His Perles Grises is his largest production wine — all 2,000 cases of it — and it is widely regarded as the finest sparkling expression of Pineau d'Aunis in existence, which makes sense, given it is more or less the only one.
Drink It With — Oysters, charcuterie, lightly spiced fish, or the kind of meal where you want the wine to be the most surprising thing on the table.
Patrice Colin 'Perles Grises' Coteaux du Vendômois
Grapes — 100% Pineau d'Aunis
Region — Coteaux du Vendômois, Loire Valley, France
Tasting Notes — Pale salmon-grey in the glass — the "grey pearls" of the name — with a gentle, lively mousse. Raspberry, grapefruit, and wild strawberry on the nose, woven through with white pepper, clove, and allspice. The palate is light-bodied, bone dry, and electric — bright red fruit, a distinctive peppery spice, and a flinty mineral finish that is pure Loire. Unlike anything else in your cellar.
The Wine — 100% Pineau d'Aunis — one of the Loire's most ancient and idiosyncratic grape varieties, dating to the 13th century and found almost nowhere else on earth — from sandy, flinty clay soils on the plateau of Thoré-la-Rochette, where a drier microclimate than the surrounding valley concentrates the fruit and preserves natural acidity. A vin gris: red grapes pressed gently to yield a nearly white wine, then bottled mid-fermentation in the ancestral method. The result is something that defies easy categorization and rewards curiosity.
Farming — Certified organic, practicing biodynamic farming since 2008. Patrice farms 25 hectares across the plateau, with some parcels of Pineau d'Aunis over 80 years old. No synthetic inputs of any kind. The plateau's naturally dry conditions reduce disease pressure and make clean farming genuinely achievable — a rarity at this latitude in the Loire.
Winemaking — Bottled mid-fermentation with no additions — no added yeast, no added sugar, no dosage. The wine completes its fermentation in bottle, creating its bubbles naturally and leaving a light, lively effervescence. Undisgorged. This is pét-nat in its purest form: honest, unmanipulated, and alive.
The Producer — Patrice Colin is an eighth-generation vigneron whose family has been cultivating vines on the plateau of Thoré-la-Rochette since 1735. The Coteaux du Vendômois is the northernmost of the Loire appellations — under-the-radar, rarely discussed, and home to a handful of growers keeping Pineau d'Aunis from disappearing entirely. Patrice is the most committed of them. His Perles Grises is his largest production wine — all 2,000 cases of it — and it is widely regarded as the finest sparkling expression of Pineau d'Aunis in existence, which makes sense, given it is more or less the only one.
Drink It With — Oysters, charcuterie, lightly spiced fish, or the kind of meal where you want the wine to be the most surprising thing on the table.