Mosse, Agnes et Rene VDF Rouge Bangarang 2022 (red)

Mosse, Agnes et Rene VDF Rouge Bisou Bangarang 2022

Cabernet Franc, Grolleau gris, Gamay

Loire Valley, France

“When this wine first came out a few years ago, I (Jules) instantly texted Joseph Mosse to make sure they hadn't named a cuvée after the horrendous Skrillex song of the same name. Fortunately, he comforted me by telling me it a reference to the lost boys' battle cry in Steven Spielberg's 1991 classic Hook. Although the Skrillex song does have a vocal stating: "shout out to my lost boys" indicating it too is referencing the film...
 The grapes and vinification change every vintage. 2021 was 70% Grolleau and 30% Gamay. The grapes co-fermented in whole-clusters for one week then were aged in barrel for six months. 

Agnès and René Mosse, along with their sons Joseph and Sylvestre, live and work in the village of St-Lambert-du-Lattay, a village in  the Coteaux-du-Layon area of Anjou. Layon is a small tributary to the Loire that lazily digs its way through well exposed and drained hills of schist and sandstone. Its micro-climate allows for a long hang-time, and when the mornings are foggy in the fall, with no rain, botrytis develops easily on the Chenin grapes.

Before becoming vignerons, the Mosse had owned a wine-bar/retail shop hybrid in Tours. They credit the great vignerons they met there, among them Jo Pithon and François Chidaine, as the impetus to become winemakers. The couple studied viticulture and oenology at the agricultural lycée in Amboise where two of their teachers were Thierry Puzelat (Clos du Tue-Boeuf) and Christian Chaussard (Domaine le Briseau).

After graduating, the Mosse spent two years working in Côte-de Beaune before buying their estate in St-Lambert in 1999. They currently work 17 hectares of vines, most of them planted with Chenin Blanc (9HA), and Cabernet Franc (3 HA), the rest planted with Gamay, Chardonnay, GrolleauGris and Noir.

They adopted organic viticulture techniques from the start, plowing between and under the rows, and use biodynamic preparations to treat the vines and soil. In their area of "Anjou Noir" (Black Anjou, so called because of the dark color of the soils of slate and volcanic rocks), the soils are shallow, with subsoils of schist and sandstone, and varying amounts of clay on the surface.

With all the efforts put into vineyard work, it is equally important to them to vinify in a natural fashion, and they are particularly attentive to minimizing manipulations and the use of sulfur. All the wines are barrel-fermented and aged. The whites usually go through their malolactic fermentation. The barrels are renewed as needed, but are always older as to not impart oak flavors.” -Louis Dressner