Romorantin is grown in exactly one appellation on earth: Cour-Cheverny, a sliver of the Loire barely fifty hectares in size. Legend has it Francois I had the vines brought up from Burgundy in the 1500s; five centuries later there is still almost none of it, and Tessier makes some of the best. La Porte Doree is the estate’s flagship, from 80- to 90-year-old vines on clay over limestone bedrock, fermented with native yeasts and left to rest on its lees without fuss. It is built on a firm, almost tactile acidity it can seem severe when young, then unwinds into something honeyed and nutty over a decade or more. If you love Chenin, Savennieres, or anything with bones, this is your grape.