The sweep of the Loire, France’s longest river, is never out of sight from the sloping vineyards; this proximity creates favorable exposures for chenin blanc, the most important white grape in Anjou and the Touraine, to mature evenly.
Loire - a many splendid thingBy Todd M. WernstromNowhere in the wine world does one grape show the dexterity of chenin blanc when grown in France's Loire Valley. From bone dry to unctuously sweet, simple to complex, age-worthy to immediately gratifyic when grown in France's Loire Valley. From bone dry to unctuously sweet, simple to complex, age-worthy to immediately gratifying, and even sparkling, chenin - or pineau de la Loire as it is known locally - gives its masters an unmatched palette with which to work. Curiously, despite this superior range, chenin isn't often mentioned in the same breath as its noble French brethren, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc, and gets much less notice than riesling and even the currently white-hot grüner veltliner. Riesling and chardonnay perhaps come closest to matching chenin's dexterity, but even they can't stack up. Though undoubtedly capable of producing some of the world's longest-lasting dry, off-dry and sweet wines in Alsace and Germany, riesling's hallmark petrol notes don't mix particularly well with bubbles. Certainly there is no arguing the greatness of chardonnay as a still or sparkling wine, but chardonnay doesn't handle residual sugar well. Besides, to truly get a bead on the best versions of both varietals, you have to canvass a number of countries, not to mention several regions within each one. By comparison, the full extent of chenin's greatness intersects in a fairly small section of the vast Loire region in Anjou and the Touraine, where it is the primary white grape and has been for 1,000 years or more.
The world's most age-worthy dry whites - wines that routinely retain their freshness and light gold color for 30 to 40 years and longer - are cultivated in tiny Savennières. Just a few miles to the southeast are the impeccably balanced sweet wines of the Coteaux du Layon and its sub-appellations of Quarts-de-Chaume and Bonnezeaux. Fizz central is located around Saumur, the dividing line between Anjou and the Touraine. And in the Touraine are the easy-to-pronounce and easy-to-like wines of Vouvray - though some of the Loire's most collectible dry and sweet wines come from there as well. Numerous other AOCs are responsible for interesting Chenin, too, but the aforementioned place names are largely those that define the grape's greatness.
They are also the wines that consumers will most readily find in U.S. wine stores, and, given their quality, at surprisingly reasonable prices. For the most part, the best dry wines are a fraction of the price of grand cru white Burgundy, though they lack none of the nuance of the Côte d'Or's finest; a case of just about any of the best sweet wines can be had for the cost of one bottle of Sauternes' pricier efforts; and while Fines Bulles and Crémant de Loire (two of the sparkling designations) aren't as complex as Champagne, they also aren't priced as such (they're not even as expensive as the vast majority of California bubblies). Finally, the inexpensive wines, those that bear just the humble Vouvray or Anjou Blanc monikers, may be simple, but they are not insipid. Indeed, they pack more personality than your average Pinot Grigio.
How is it that such an unlikely candidate for greatness is found in such a compact area? Chenin, Anjou and the Touraine do share something with many of the world's most enviable wine zip codes and their star varieties. Like Left Bank cabernet in Bordeaux, syrah from the steep terraces of the Northern Rhône, and pinot noir and chardonnay from the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune, respectively, chenin was made to excel in a small swath of the Loire Valley. Though unlike these exemplars, chenin thrives in the Loire just about to the exclusion of all other places. (Chenin is grown in many parts of the world, and, in fact, there is more of it planted in South Africa, where it is known as steen, than the Loire. There are also some notable versions from California - Chappellet, Chalone and Dry Creek offer subtle Chenins - but there is little question where the superior product is made.) It is not an easy grape to nurture, and the part of the Loire where it is found isn't necessarily the most nurturing. Paradoxically, the unevenness of the vintages is often cited by vignerons here as one of the reasons chenin can routinely achieve greatness because it is uniquely well suited to its environment; the weaknesses of the grape and the drawbacks of the climate mesh with the pluses of each to result in a sort of terroir nirvana.
Each of the essentials for growing superior white grapes is present in force in Anjou and the Touraine. Many of them are directly impacted by the proximity of the Loire and a number of lesser rivers that crisscross the region. Most of those rivers, including the Loire itself, flow sufficiently horizontally to create lots of south, southwest and southeast exposures for vineyards.
According to the very dynamic biodynamic acolyte Nicolas Joly - whose Savennières, and especially the monopole Coulée-de-Serrant, are as close to being cult wines that the region has to offer - the number-one reason for chenin's potential greatness is "the location of the vines [which are] south facing with proximity to the river." Monique Laroche, the maternal half of the mother-daughter team that runs Domaine-aux-Moines (also located in Savennières), says, "Our schist vineyards have a favorable south-southwest exposure." Florent Baumard, who directs the Coteaux du Layon-based Domaine des Baumard, stresses "the moderate climate, with its mild winters and temperate summers, allows for slow and continuous maturation of our grapes." But it's not only vineyard aspect that results in healthy grapes. "The rivers bring a certain regulation of climate to the area," Baumard says.
"The monks were always trying to plant their vines close to the water. Sun reflected by water onto the vines has a different affect than direct sunlight. The vines don't need much water but this kind of sun gives ripe grapes," Joly says.
Jo Pithon, whose eponymous domain is located in the important Coteaux du Layon commune of Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay, connects the exposure and moisture dots: "All of my vineyards were selected, first, because they have good drainage, so adequate water is provided; and second, because they have southerly exposure, so daylight radiation is maximized," he says.
The rivers also contribute to weather patterns that sweet wine producers elsewhere would envy. "Morning fogs come from these rivers, which is favorable for the development of pourriture noble [noble rot or botrytis cinera]," Baumard explains. In fact, there is probably no region as consistently susceptible to botrytis as the Loire, or more accurately, parts of Anjou and the Touraine. This is especially so in Savennières, Coteaux du Layon and some areas within Vouvray. "Beginning in September, we get the fog for botrytis one day out of each two or three," Joly notes. And while most consumers equate graying bunches with lusciously sweet dessert wines, there are often affected grapes blended in the dry wines as well, which accounts in part for Chenin's ability to be both soft and steely. In order to take advantage of the staggered "rotting" of grapes and to ensure maximum ripeness, Baumard picks "by hand with several passes - tries in French - which allows us to get them at their most mature," he says. Harvesting by hand and in numbers of passes is mandated by law in the better appellations.
Soils and yields are two other factors that determine quality. Though generalizations, it's nonetheless fair to say that Vouvray in the Touraine is defined by its chalky vineyards; toward the west in Coteaux du Layon and Savennières, the makeup is more schist and volcanic rock. Each soil type gives the resultant wines a distinctive marker. "This sense of minerality allows chenin to express completely different aromas and flavors in the same vintage from wines made from vineyards just miles from each other. This 'Burgundian' sense of terroir is what makes this part of the Loire and chenin so special," says the admirably ambitious importer Jon-David Headrick, who adds that his goal "is to create the most representative Loire Chenin portfolio available in the U.S." That mineral component, coupled with low yields, makes for an exquisitely balanced wine no matter the sweetness level. "Yield is a factor so important, it is difficult to speak of other reasons that a neighboring area's wines are [less successful]; that's why we have different AOCs," Joly says.
The Loire is France's third-leading wine producing region behind Bordeaux and the Rhône. The river Loire is France's longest at 630 miles and its most important. Its source is in the Massif Central - a place that is as rugged as it sounds - where it gradually flows to the northwest until it comes to Orléans about 70 miles south of Paris. There it turns to the southwest and then essentially west as it comes to the Touraine. And after about 60 miles, it passes to the south of the medieval city of Angers (just as the Touraine is named for its major settlement of Tours, Anjou is derived from Angers) before making its way to the sea by way of the port city of Nantes.
Since Caesar's attempts to pacify Gaul, the Loire has often been a symbolic dividing line between peace and chaos. ("The river is the great divide between northern and southern France," says Noël Pinguet of the notable Vouvray producer Huët.) While the Romans battled the barbarians, they planted vines so that each legionnaire could have his daily ration of wine. There is ample evidence of significant grape cultivation throughout the region by the first century A.D., and by the fourth, wine was being made virtually everywhere it is today. Most remarkably, the Loire's four main grapes - chenin, sauvignon blanc, cabernet franc and pinot noir - were, by then, pretty much entrenched where they are now.
As has been the case throughout France's winemaking history, what the Romans "started" - there is evidence that the Greeks and the Phoenicians may have had an earlier role in the Loire's wine development - the Church accelerated. The region's patron saint of wine would have to be Martin of Tours. He is credited with spreading the vine throughout the Touraine, and particularly Vouvray, during his reign as Bishop of Tours in the fourth century. Gregory of Tours in the sixth century was instrumental in the further development of the industry. In the Anjou, the proximity of Paris made this area a particularly popular "weekend" destination for the aristocrats who built imposing châteaux to show off, and also to protect themselves from the machinations of court, not to mention the interventionist English kings, who seemingly spent more time on the Continent than at home during the Middle Ages.
Though the region as a whole is responsible for more than 740 million gallons of wine per year and more white wine than any other region in France, the great chenin vineyards are the source of only a tiny fraction of it all. Typical of many of the world's best appellations, the prime sites in Anjou and the Touraine are small. Savennières in the western portion of Anjou is 350 acres, of which the two great sub-appellations of Roche aux Moines and Coulée-de-Serrant are 81 and 17, respectively. And in a vineyard configuration that might be familiar to fans of Burgundy, most individual holdings are quite small: Pithon has two-and-a half acres; Domaine-aux-Moines 20; Joly owns all of Coulée-de-Serrant, a vineyard in production since the early 12th century, as well as seven within Roche aux Moines and twelve in Savennières proper. Even Domaine des Baumard, justly famous for its Savennières from Clos du Papillon, in addition to its brilliant sweet wines from Coteaux du Layon, holds just 30 acres in the appellation.
It is said that Louis XIV loved Savennières above all other wines, although it's unlikely he ever visited its rocky slopes - the French have never been the road builders the Romans were. The appellation, which dates officially to 1952, lies on the northern bank of the Loire only a handful of miles - albeit a circuitous handful - from Angers. Because there are only three communes (with the two sub-appellations) and all the wine is made from chenin (and of that nearly all is now dry), Savennières may be the easiest viticole in the Loire to understand.
The key to the wine's style is that "the river comes to the edge of many of the vineyards," according to Tessa Laroche, the daughter of Monique and the one responsible for Domaine-aux-Moines' vines. Those steep and rocky soils tend to dampen chenin's enthusiastic cropping. The variety, though capable of big sugar levels, isn't an early ripener, which would suggest that it shouldn't be a classic match for the area. "Adequate sun must be sought because the climate is northerly and maritime," Pithon says. Baumard notes the "warmer soils" in the great place names like Savennières and Quarts-de-Chaume result from the sun directly and indirectly (by way of reflection) beating down on the rocks. This combination helps the grapes to achieve maturity, while the variety's ample acidity keeps the sugars in check. Even the consistent fog doesn't have much of a chance to linger due to stiff breezes, so there is little risk of bad rot ruining a crop.
The wine that comes from this complex set of factors is, to be charitable, not the easiest to like in its infancy. While Savennières does have the unique ability to age glacially but discernably from year to year, its sometimes-vicious acidity can cause drinkers accustomed to soft whites to wince when it is young. Headrick, of Jon-David Selections, who brings in Domaine Laureau's excellent (though not well known) Le Bel Ouvrage Savennières, among others, acknowledges that, "Consumers often think that chenin-based wines are light and acidic, [but after] I explain the liaison between acidity and food, and that over-extraction can often hide a sense of place, they are seldom disappointed with the wines," he says.
Chenin's acidity is tamed by time, not malo, and this is the source of a delicate balance when making the wines. "The great difficulty of chenin is the acidity. If you adjust it, the wine will be good but technical. You want the right balance of acidity without technology and without 100 percent malolactic," Joly explains.
It often takes Savennières ten years or so in bottle for its gentler nature to emerge. Before then, it may be perfumed, floral and redolent of almond and stone fruit, but more likely it will show off its piercing acidity in the guise of lime peel and green apple notes. Thankfully, it will sometimes do both simultaneously, which is why the wines should usually be exposed to air for extended periods of time once opened. Much like a big red, Savennières softens measurably over the course of an hour; some even insist that wines like Joly's Coulée-de-Serrant must be decanted and left out overnight to show properly.
Savennières' singular nature - the wines are fairly easy to spot in blind tastings of other dry Loire Chenins - may be as attributable to its yields as to its terrain and climate. The lay of the land is certainly forbidding as rocky terraces slope down toward the river. The difficulties faced by the Laroches of Domaine aux Moines in Roche aux Moines are typical of the area. Situated at the very top of a river-facing hillside (the highest point in the sub-appellation), the domain commands sweeping views, making it easy to see that obeying manual harvesting laws is really the only option. Its motto, "The estate where wine is a feminine plural word," belies the non-ladylike intensity of the work involved in bringing in the harvest each year.
But as indicated by Joly, whose Clos de la Coulée-de-Serrant is located just to the east of Roche aux Moines and even more dominated by the Loire, yields are crucial. Legally for dry wines, it is 50 hectoliters per hectare (which works out to about 2,700 bottles of wine per acre), but according to statistics from Inter-Loire, a wine trade organization, it is often closer to twelve hectoliters per hectare. That significant, self-imposed culling of fruit results in wines of unmatched intensity and longevity. The oldest available vintage from Domaine-aux-Moines is the 1971, of which Madame Laroche says, "The hue is yellow with a green tint. The nose is very minerally with a lot of honey. It is fresh and vivacious with a pronounced sense of its terroir." Joly notes that "the '55 and '64 Coulées are still perfect."
Just across the Loire from Savennières is the Coteaux du Layon. The Layon Valley is named for the river that neatly bisects it on its way to a meeting with the Loire at the edge of the appellation. The viticole is significantly larger than Savennières at 3,000 acres, but, like Savennières, the source of its most profound wines are smallish parcels. The wines that are labeled Coteaux du Layon, or one of the sub-appellations, are sweet (moelleux, which in French means soft) and while they vary somewhat in style - some are leaner than others - they have telltale honey and stone fruit nuances with a plush texture always kept fresh by inviting acidity. Whereas many of the world's stickies can come across as cloying and syrupy, the wines of Layon are so well balanced that they are capable of being drunk before a meal, not just at the end of it; and seemingly last forever: "We have the 1906 for great family occasions," Baumard says.
The climate is a bit different from Savennières', primarily in that the enveloping fog manages to linger longer each day in Layon, accounting for the added textural features of its wines. That fog is more likely to be burned off than blown off the vines. The most famous sub-appellation is Quarts-de-Chaume, which is found astride the wiggly Layon's right bank due south of Savennières. The official designation dates to 1954 and refers to the consensus that these 123 acres represent the best "quarter" of the Coteaux du Layon. The permitted yield is 25 hectoliters per hectare (about 1,350 bottles per acre), though actual production is 40 percent less. The other sub-appellations are Bonnezeaux (about twice the size of Quarts-de-Chaume), the unwieldy sounding Chaume Premier Cru des Coteaux du Layon (198 acres) and Coteaux du Layon-Villages. Of the 27 communes that may be appended to the Coteaux du Layon designation, six are considered first among equals. Baumard and Pithon are located in two of those.
Domaine des Baumard is made up of one of the larger holdings in the area with a total of 86 acres. Of that figure, 27 are in Layon (twelve in Quarts-de-Chaume), including twelve in the domain's "home" turf of Rochefort-sur-Loire - actually, the property is more sur the lesser Louet. Baumard took over from his father, Jean, in the early '90s after spending time in the States and U.K. Baumard père, who began bottling his wines in the 1950s, has long been considered a maverick. He was among the first to clean up the cellar, so to speak, and was even the founder of a group of small vignerons who pooled their resources in order to market their wines, an unusual practice anywhere in France, not just the Loire. He also was one of the few, if only, vignerons to plant chardonnay during an authorized experimental period in Savennières. Both Baumards were pleased with the quality of the chardonnay, though nowadays practically no one else is interested in the varietal - proving, in their case, that the grape doesn't fall far from the vine.
Florent has continued the somewhat iconoclastic family style. For example: "Starting this year, I am planning on bottling our entire production with screw caps," he says. So far, this utterly revolutionary act has been confined to the basic Anjou Blanc and the Trie Spéciale Savennières. Aside from his belief that screw caps are now the most reliable way to close bottles, he points out that "truly corked bottles are rather rare, but we are seeing more and more 'unclear' tastes coming from corks. The wine may not be completely corked, but it is changed. Most of the time consumers don't realize that the bottle isn't quite right; they just don't completely enjoy the wine, and then go to another brand. These consumers are probably lost forever, which upsets me because they get the wrong idea of what we want to offer them."
His innovative approach isn't limited to how he seals bottles. After taking stock of his father's cellar reserves, he came up with the novel idea of blending them together and re-bottling them as a non-vintage Coteaux du Layon. Using an analysis that a business school grad might relate to, he figured that because some would require re-corking and labeling, some were not in good shape and quantities were varied from year to year, it just didn't make sense to go to the trouble of selling them as vintage wines (some fans of the domain might disagree and relish the chance to buy up old vintages). Cuvée Ancienne de Jean Baumard is composed of 15 vintages of sweet wines from the years 1966 to 1988. Priced at only $25 per bottle, it is assembled in a fashion much more familiar to the Champenois than to practitioners in Anjou, though given the provenance of the blend, it is certainly closer in luster to Krug's Grande Cuvée than to an ordinary non-vintage Champagne.
Father and son may be less conventional than their peers in many ways, but they are quite mainstream when it comes to quality. While critics and consumers may have their favorites, there is little argument that winemaking in Coteaux du Layon (and Savennières for that matter) is among the most consistent and skillful in France. As alluded to earlier, vignerons embrace, rather than fear, the year-to-year vintage variations in Anjou. Some years are riper than others, so "we decide each day of the harvest which style of wine fits the grapes. It's not the market that decides, it's the constitution of the grapes that determines [how dry or sweet our wines will be]," Florent says.
Jo Pithon, in nearby Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay, concurs that chenin "is a very versatile grape, particularly here in Anjou where high levels of acidity give us the flexibility to provide both dry and sweet wines." Most of his 32 acres are in Layon (including one-half acre in Quarts-de-Chaume). His methods of production are a little unusual for the area. He farms organically, which suggests a certain let-nature-take-its-course outlook. Yet at the same time, his dry wines are subject to 100 percent malolactic, a move that is far from the norm. And perhaps even more unusual, all his wines - from his Anjou Blancs to his super sweet, 150-gram-residual-sugar-liquid-gold Quarts-de-Chaume Les Varennes and Coteaux du Layon-Saint-Lambert Les Bonnes Blanches - spend up to 18 months (and sometimes longer) in barrique. Wood is prevalent in Anjou, but its usual purpose, as pointed out by Joly, "is essentially to enable the wine to breathe" rather than take on any oak attributes. In fact, other than maybe a textural hint, overt clues that a wine has spent time in anything but stainless steel are rare. Pithon's wines are different. When they are chilled, the oak is the first thing that a taster will notice. This can be a bit off-putting, but instead of dismissing him as another internationalist, let his wines warm up a bit. They then show themselves for what they truly are: lusciously complex mouthfuls of dried apricot, fig, honey and clove.
One thing Pithon will not subject his chenin to is added sugar. In a theme repeated by many other vignerons, chaptalization, while legal, is to be avoided at all costs. There seems to be a movement away from adding sugar in less ripe years, and an anecdote shared by Pithon gives a sense of the payoff as more and more producers opt to do things au naturel: "The best Chenin I've had was the 1943 Moulin Touchais [a high-end Coteaux du Layon from Touchais]. During the war years, there was no sugar to chaptalize, as invariably would have been the practice at that time. As a consequence, the wines from that period were - and have remained - of the highest quality, and they have matured into even better wines. Enjoying those wines over the years has convinced me that Loire chenin must never be chaptalized."
Saumur, a few miles to the east, is the "dividing line" between Anjou and the Touraine. Aside from being a center for sparkling Loire wines, this is also the land of the great châteaux, a place where tourists ooh and aah at the splendidly preserved evidence of how the other half used to live. The sparkling business dates to 1811, and while bubblies are made throughout Anjou and the Touraine, a bottle with a Saumur provenance has a certain cachet. Unlike most of the dry and sweet still wines, the sparklers are often made with a blend of several varieties. For those labeled Fines Bulles, 80 percent must be chenin, with the remainder sauvignon blanc and/or chardonnay. For the broader Crémant de Loire AOC, one that extends throughout Anjou and the Touraine as well as Saumur, any number of white and red grapes can be in the mix, including chenin, chardonnay, pinot noir, gamay and cabernet franc.
Once in the Touraine, a broad swath of rivers and valleys assures only one thing: inconsistency. This large vineyard area has always been the seat of the négociants, and they have historically been largely the reason that indifferent wines have been shipped abroad, as well as the cause of this part of the Loire's reputation for somewhat innocuous wines. This has been changing of late, however, now that the négoces have been focusing on quality as much as quantity. Wines from the likes of Marc Brédif (owned by the Pouilly-Fumé powerhouse Ladoucette from the sauvignon blanc side of the Loire) and Barton & Guestier, producer of reliable wines that are sold in just about every supermarket in the western world, are authentic and well priced.
A map suggests that a higher concentration of producers may be found in the Touraine than Anjou; no doubt the result of a topography that is gentler in most places than Savennières and Layon. But at the same time, some of the Loire's greatest wines - and, in fact, its greatest reds, which hail from Chinon, Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil - are from here. Vouvray, located just to the east of Tours, the geographic center of the Touraine, on the right bank of the Loire, is the best known, and just about the largest appellation. A broader range of wines is done by vignerons here than anywhere else in all the Loire; many producers dabble in every style possible. Just as Alsace's winemakers seemingly can't resist bottling each allowed varietal in several different lines and price points, vignerons in Vouvray bottle chenin in every style available. The key to knowing what you are getting is to look for the dryness level in small print (sec, demi-sec, moelleux and liquoreux) that is, unfortunately, often not as clearly indicated as it should be.
Huët is the Vouvray name that most resonates with collectors the world over. At the drier end, the wines epitomize the Vouvray style, one that leans heavily toward a citrusy, chalky minerality, owing to the bed of tufa on which the vineyards rest. The sweet wines age for decades, though, on the whole, they seem to possess a little less ripeness than those in Coteaux du Layon. (This is not in any way a criticism.) Huët is known for its lieu-dit holdings, proving that the family wisely invested in well-placed vineyards, including Le Haut-Lieu, Le Mont and Clos du Bourg. Of its 86 acres, 59 are in these south-facing single vineyards.
Noël Pinguet, son-in-law of the late Loire legend Gaston Huët, aptly sums up the difference between Chenin in his part of the Loire and that found farther west: "In Anjou, and in particular Savennières, schist gives the wine more minerality. In Vouvray, the clay-limestone soil gives the wine roundness and the climate gives it character. We don't have extremes of heat or cold; there is a balance to our weather that few other regions have."
Balance is no doubt a buzz word for vignerons region-wide, and that balance lends an age-worthiness to the wines. "The oldest wines I have had from our vineyards date to 1873 and 1894 from Le Mont. They came with the property when my father-in-law bought it. There is always something emotional and almost magical about tasting such old wines but, speaking objectively, they were very present and had not faded. The wines were moelleux and only nine percent alcohol or so," Pinguet says.
The Vouvray AOC dates to 1936, making it older than any of the other appellations mentioned above, but its seniority comes at a price. There are arguably too many acres in production, and while the legal yields aren't necessarily too high, the actual production is literally bursting at these limits. This means that consumers may not know what they're getting when picking up an unfamiliar bottle. That said, wines of high quality and low price from producers such as Domaine du Viking - yes, the proprietor looks like a viking! - Cave des Producteurs à Vouvray and Domaine Bourillon d'Orléans, are abundant. Those searching for Huët's highly allocated wines will have to squint to confirm their prize, however. The Huët name is seemingly absent from the label. "My father-in-law believed that the name of the terroir was more important than his name. The names Le Mont, Haut-Lieu and Clos du Bourg sold the wine," Pinguet explains.
Just across the river is the much smaller appellation of Montlouis-sur-Loire. With the Loire its northern border and the Cher its southern, it makes sense that its soils are a bit sandier than Vouvray's. The wines here tend to be lighter in style, though a taste of any of the excellent produce from the likes of François Chidaine rules out the assumption that with lightness comes less nuance. As in Vouvray, there are lots of different styles of wine made - all with chenin on the white side - and Montlouis also shares the same legal yield levels. The actual production, however, is about 20 percent lower than allowed, making this area a reliable choice for consumers looking to branch out from Vouvray's higher profile.
The process of tasting dozens and dozens of wines from the same place for purposes of writing articles such as this one often results in a yearning to actually drink just about anything other than the wines that are the subject of the piece. Yet as I finish my last tasting note, instead of palate fatigue, I am left thinking about which Chenin from Anjou or the Touraine I will be having with dinner tonight.
Todd M. Wernstrom is the executive editor.
tasting BAR
Domaine des Baumard, 2003 La Calèche Anjou Blanc Sec - $11: Initial whiff of honey yields to scents of grilled nuts and candied lemon. Flavors of citrus peel, apricot pit and bacon fat; lots of nuance in a screw cap. Score: 91
Domaine des Baumard, 1999 Savennières - $20: A great example of what sets Savennières apart from other dry whites: Aromas and flavors that are honeyed and rich yet very dry at the same time. Lots of orange peel and bitter almond; perfect balance. Score: 95
Domaine des Baumard, 1995 Savennières - $36: Piercingly fresh aromas of apricot blossom, white flowers and nougat. Balanced, juicy flavors of baked apple, along with a nutty bitterness. Score: 93
Domaine des Baumard, 2000 Trie Spéciale Savennières - $33: Floral and honeyed when cold; interestingly, becomes leaner as it warms. Aromas of pear, lime peel and minerals; flavors of preserved lemon and almond. Score: 93
Domaine des Baumard, 2001 Clos du Papillon Savennières - $28: Lean, minerally aromas of white grapefruit, clove and cedar. Searing, though not unpleasant, acidity. Flavors of peach pit and minerals show a hint of the ripe stone fruit to come in time. Score: 93
Domaine des Baumard, 1979 Clos du Papillon Savennières - $60: Astounding bright gold hue. An earthy scent gives way to stone fruit and nut notes. Still quite lively in the mouth; lots of lemon peel and a hint of butterscotch. Interesting bitterness in the close. Score: 91
Domaine des Baumard, 2002 Clos de Sainte-Catherine Coteaux du Layon - $40: Warm, youthful and focused aromas of tangerine, dust and minerals. Beautifully balanced flavors of orange, dried apricot and caramel with a tobacco note. Inviting now, but there's a long, bright future in store. Score: 95
Domaine des Baumard, 1969 Clos de Sainte-Catherine Coteaux du Layon - $85: Bronze-gold hue. Amazing absence of oxidation; honeyed, floral aromas of lime peel, grilled almonds and dried tobacco. Still lively and concentrated flavors of apricot, clove, butterscotch and honey; orange peel marks the close. Score: 94
Domaine des Baumard, 1989 Coteaux du Layon - $45: Fresh, doughy aromas of lemon curd, lime peel and cinnamon. Beautifully balanced and sweet without being cloying. Flavors of buttered apricot and vanilla custard. Suitable for more than dessert. Score: 93
Domaine des Baumard, 2002 Quarts-de-Chaume - $60: Intensely honeyed aromas of apricot hard candy, clove and sandalwood. Soft peach nectar texture. Pineapple and a touch of butter in the mouth; just a bit short of acidity. Score: 91
Domaine des Baumard, 1995 Quarts-de-Chaume - $100: Initial intense combination of flowers, honey and caramel scents shows the obvious botrytis. Lusciously ripe aromas of white peach, flan and a grapefruit peel note. Great balance - huge and demure at the same time - with tickling acidity. Flavors of broiled orange and apricot are quite sweet, yet totally in control. Soft peach nectar texture. A perfect wine. Score: 100
Domaine Bourillon d'Orléans, 2002 La Coulée d'Argent Vieilles Vignes Vouvray Sec - $16: Super-fresh scents of lime blossom and chalk; like an excellent Sancerre without the shrillness. Thirst-quenching flavors of apple and minerals. Score: 92
Cave des Producteurs à Vouvray, 2003 La Craie Vouvray - $15: Clean, fresh aromas and flavors of lemon, white grapefruit and flowers. Residual sugar note in the close. Score: 88
Domaine du Closel, 2002 Clos du Papillon Savennières - $23: Somewhat closed now, yet it shows tantalizing hints of the richness to come. Aromas of apricot pit and anise. Soft but not yet generous flavors of peach and bitter nuts. Score: 94
Foreau, 1999 Domaine du Clos Naudin Vouvray Moelleux - $26: Waxy, quite perfumed aromas of buttered peach and honey. Flavors of stewed apricot and tobacco are intriguingly lean and not overtly sweet, but have a peach-fuzz texture. Score: 93
François Chidaine, 2001 Clos Habert Montlouis - $18: Low alcohol, lovely and loaded with nuance. Fragrant scents of lime and chalk. Minerally flavors of tangerine and honeysuckle. Score: 93
Huët, 2002 Le Mont Vouvray Sec - $26: A great example of the difference between Chenin from Vouvray and Savennières. Lemony fresh and intensely floral scents. Mouth-watering citrus and flint flavors. Score: 92
Huët, 2002 Le Haut-Lieu Vouvray Demi-Sec - $45: Vivacious aromas of candied lemon rind, chalk and minerals. Beautifully integrated sweetness and minerally acidity; appetite-whetting lemon flavors. Score: 94
Huët, 2000 Pétillant Brut Vouvray - $21: Crisp, creamy pear aromas. Ample acidity; flavors of apple, chalk and straw. Score: 88
Domaine Jo Pithon, 2003 La Croix Picot Savennières - $31: Apricot and oak aromas jump from the glass, and the palate echoes the nose. With airing, additional clove, flowers, dried apricot and peach develop and the oak fades. Score: 90
Domaine Jo Pithon, 2002 Les Varennes Quarts-de-Chaume - $73 (375 ml): Extracted, generous aromas of apricot, butterscotch and a spicy oak note. Youthful, creamy flavors of honeyed stone fruit and wet slate. Score: 95
Domaine Jo Pithon, 2001 Les Bonnes Blanches Coteaux du Layon-Saint-Lambert - $51 (500 ml): Ample wood spice scents layered on ripe apricot and citrus. Lusciously viscous stone fruit flavors are very sweet yet in control. Score: 94
Domaine Laureau, 2002 Le Bel Ouvrage Savennières - $30: Intense aromas of apricot preserves, toasted almond and honey blossom. Great balance; youthful flavors of peach and bitter almond. Score: 93
Marc Brédif, 2003 Vouvray - $17: Earthy aromas of lemon and minerals. Soft, juicy flavors of ripe apple and chalk heightened by zesty acidity. Score: 88
Domaine-aux-Moines, 1999 Savennières-Roche aux Moines - $30: Needs time to open. Concentrated aromas of candied orange peel, caramel, clove honey and minerals. Flavors of citrus, dust and minerals. Maturing glacially as compared to three years ago; a great if somewhat challenging wine at present. Score: 95
Domaine-aux-Moines, 1995 Savennières-Roche aux Moines - $30: Mature aromas of baked apple, preserved lemon and roasted almond. A tiny sting of acidity suggests that it is still in its prime; flavors of marmalade, almond slivers and honey with an espresso edge. When tasted three years ago, the open-ness it's now showing was just emerging. Score: 92
Domaine-aux-Moines, 1991 Savennières-Roche aux Moines - $33: Incredibly, it's still not ready. Well-integrated, but not particularly open aromas of apricot, orange peel and almond with a honey note. Perhaps a bit more forward in the mouth; flavors of peach, slate and bitter nuts. Quite dry. Score: 95
Domaine-aux-Moines, 1988 Savennières-Roche aux Moines - $33: Lean, minerally scents scream green apple; as it warms, additional aromas of baked apple and honey with even a petrol note, perhaps from its age. Squeaky-clean flavors of lime, slate and almond. A graceful ager. Score: 95
Domaine de la Motte, 2003 Coteaux du Layon-Rochefort Doux - $17: Young, lean, white peppery freshness in the nose with hints of pineapple and cedar suggesting the richness to come. Soft, sweetly refreshing flavors of peach nectar and macerated white raisins; low alcohol keeps it light. Score: 92
Domaine de la Motte, 1990 Coteaux du Layon-Rochefort - $37: Very perfumed, exquisitely honeyed aromas of peach and clove. Unctuous, though not overripe, flavors of apricot, white pepper and cedar; moderately sweet. Score: 94
Nicolas Joly, 2002 Les Clos Sacrés Savennières - $29: Intensely perfumed aromas of pear preserves, tobacco, cedar and clove. Stylized, almost beery, flavors of apple, apricot jam and tobacco. Score: 93
Nicolas Joly, 2000 Clos de la Coulée-de-Serrant Savennières - $90: Integrated, floral scents of apricot, wood spices and dried tobacco. Typically youthful flavors of citrus, peach pit and minerals. Score: 93
Nicolas Joly, 1995 Clos de la Coulée-de-Serrant Savennières - $95: A bit less extravagant than this wine usually is. Warm, mature aromas of apricot syrup, clove honey and caramel custard. Flavors of apricot, orange peel, almond and tea suggest that the wine is advanced for its age. Score: 92
Nicolas Joly, 1991 Clos de la Coulée-de-Serrant Savennières - $120: Copper-gold hue. Seemed corky when first opened. The next day it showed complex aromas of dried apricot, orange marmalade, tea, tobacco and almond. Balanced, though not overtly fresh flavors of dried pear, cedar, tobacco and clove honey; bitter almond in the finish. Score: 95
Philippe Brisebarre, 1989 Grande Réserve Vouvray Moelleux - $34: Bright gold-green hue. Complex, subtle scents of lime peel, tobacco and cedar. Modestly sweet flavors of citrus, peach and butterscotch are soft yet very lively. Score: 94
Pierre Bise, 1996 Coteaux du Layon-Chaume - $28 (500 ml): Luscious scents of peach nectar, clove honey and butter. Soft flavors of apricot syrup and cedar are not cloying in the least; alcohol is an unusually high 15 percent. Score: 92
Domaine du Viking, 2002 Vouvray - $17: Fleshier than most Vouvrays. Earthy lemon zest scents. Mouth-watering minerally acidity and great balance wrap flavors of citrus and chalk. Score: 91
Domaine Vincent Ogereau, 2002 Coteaux du Layon-Saint-Lambert - $17: Taut, minerally scents of stone fruit and honey. More of the same in the mouth with orange peel and marmalade notes. A great value. Score: 89
Domaine Vincent Ogereau, 2002 Clos des Bonnes Blanches Coteaux du Layon-Saint-Lambert - $26 (500 ml): Subtle scents of apricot, honey and notes of butter and sandalwood. Luscious, juicy flavors of apricot pit and cedar. Score: 92 -
