Had my first off-dry cb: a 2022 Damien Pinon Vouvray Moelleux Les Perruches
Rather unimpressive but a pleasant enough wine. I might also be spoiled from German off-dry stuff. I think pinion was mentioned here, so I thought of bringing this up.
Never heard of this producer, maybe a relative?
Any time I mention Pinon I’m talking about Francois/Francois et Julien
Thanks Jay, that clarifies a lot. I just saw the surname and assumed it was the pinion mentioned here
Understandable. I never knew there was another Pinon making wine in the Loire
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Bought my first sixer of Loire WWs recently, mainly following advice I received here (Wine advice for a Loire trip). However, the CBs include Huet and Chateau Yvonne, which were also mentioned in this thread, so thanks again for bringing these to my attention. Looking forward to tasting them!
How much do you pay in Spain? I recently bought more of the 2021, loving the freshness of that vintage. But it’s $50-55 in Nyc, which is a fair price all things considered, but no longer incredible QPR for me.
I thought I saw a header that read budget chenins, which I believe are made everywhere!.
On the Jancis website they did a tasting of California CBs…The QPR winner was Foxen.
30 euros plus delivery which comes up to 1.5 euros (when you buy 12 bottles in total). That’s about 37 USD.
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30.90 eur for a 2020 version in France
L’Ecole No. 41 Old Vines CB from Washington has never dissapointed. $18 -20.
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I would second Laureau, Chidaine and Huet, which I believe have all been mentioned.
Would also add Domaine de la Taille aux Loups, which I don’t think have been mentioned. To me they hit a nice goldilocks zone between the freshness and richness that, for me, typifies what chenin does best.
I tend to share OP’s preference for chenins that have some richness, more so than some of the more austere, steely variants that seem to be fashionable as of late. None of those mentioned above may truly be budget recs though. It might be easier to find more broad-shouldered chenins on a budget from South Africa, perhaps.
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Just rereading this thread to see if anyone mentioned Chateau de Plaisance, so I was pleased to see that your vendor gets them, but surprised nobody has mentioned them yet. The estate was acquired by Vanessa Cherruau in 2019 and has been making really good, dry Chenin since then. Usually quite rich wines, though in 2023 they’re a bit delicate. At the lower end of their range, I like Ronceray a lot
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I would second that - specifically, their Triple Zero sparkling wine which is a rather nice champagne alternative at ~US$30.
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