Domaine Belargus - Anjou/Savennières - A star is born!

WINE TALK
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I had heard a lot about Domaine Belargus. This is a “new” Loire estate created by a Parisian banker, Ivan Massonnat, who bought the Pithon-Paillé vineyards, mostly in Anjou and Quarts de Chaume, keeping on Jo Pithon as a consultant, adding some more plots in Savennières. The first vintage was I believe in 2018.

Laurent Gibet posted a note about one of the wines here: "Modest" (everyday) wines - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

I received an offer recently to take part in a Zoom tasting organised by iDealwine. It wasn’t cheap at 35€, but intrigued by what I had read previously, I accepted. I duly received a nice little box containing three 5cl samples and some attractive blurb about the estate, including a helpful map of the various plots.
The tasting is actually scheduled next week, but due to a change of work times, I was not going to be free, so I decided to open the samples on my own last night.

All three wines are dry chenins from 2018:

Anjou Ronceray

This is a blend from three plots planted on schist and sandstone soils in the Quarts de Chaume part (so better known for sweet wines).

The nose is arrestingly sharp at first, with notes of citrus fruits, white pepper and spring flowers, then broadening out into something more creamy, with hints of vanilla.
The attack is similarly sharp and focused, very mineral, very tight, citrus fruits again with a hint of apple, before a honeyed middle section and a very refined, elegant finish. Delicious. 28 euros

Savennières Gaudrets

A blend of several plots planted on schist and sandstone soils again.

White pepper and citrus fruit aromas again, with this time a strong sense of honeysuckle. The attack is sharp and acidic, a little salty, but with much more volume in the rich middle section, where this time the honey shows more, before a very mineral, chalky finish. An old-fashioned style of Savennières, but slightly more accessible. Very impressive. 33€

Anjou Bonnes Blanches

This is from the original Pithon vines, a tiny plot in the Layon sector. This time, the nose was tight and mute at first, but it recovered after ten minutes, displaying powerful notes of apples and pears, seaspray and hay. In the mouth, just as salty and acidic but bigger again than the Gaudrets, with similar tastes but more focused and concentrated. The finish doesn’t have the chalky touch of the Gaudrets but is longer than the Ronceray. Again, strikingly refined and elegant, most appealing. 39€

Sipping the three together, the Gaudrets stood out slightly, but all three were delicious.

The alcohol levels are fine - 13° all round, whereas Clos de la Bergerie of La Coulée du Serrant 2018 is a whopping 15.5°, for example.

None of the wines tasted overripe or flabby, all three were tense, crisp and acidic.

They are not cheap but I was very impressed and promptly ordered a couple of each. I loved the chiselled, tight fruit and the restrained elegance.

There are several more cuvées, which I will try and taste too - this is clearly an estate to watch.

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Sounds interesting.

Pricing in the US seems like it would be challenging once you tack on import and distribution premiums. Are those French retail prices or ex-cellar?

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The prices are at retail - so yes, quite high, which is why I wanted to taste before buying, but the level of quality is such that I thought they were all worth the money.

Just as a comparison, the Clos de la Bergerie 2018 by Joly is priced at 40€.

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Pricing quite high for Anjou Blanc standards (although not exactly unheard of), but quite normal for Savennieres, I’d say, at least for the Gaudrets. The other Savennieres, Rucheres, is priced ehm very ambitiously at cca 75-80 EUR retail. Now, perhaps being open-minded is not exactly my strong suit, but I just couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger. I’m having a great deal of difficulty imaging what exactly it could do for me that I haven’t seen before in Savennieres at a fraction of the price.

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I actually couldn’t agree more! I approached these wines with a lot of trepidation, expecting to either be disappointed or to like them but not be convinced they were worth the money. The idea of spending around 30 euros on an Anjou white struck me as being a little odd. But tasting them changed my mind. The Savennières tasted like I wish all Savennières tasted like, while the two Anjous tasted better than most Savennières.

I had a cheaper Anjou 2018 last night, “Effusion” by Patrick Baudouin (19€ all the same), which really put the Belargus wines into perspective - it was tasty but not in the same league.

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At some point prices of Savennieres will rise.

Count yourself lucky they have not yet; this could be the beginning of a new phase.

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I don’t really mind paying Savennieres prices for an Anjou Blanc per se, but I can’t really think of too many that truly justify the expense (including Baudouin). Mark Angeli springs to mind as one of the few notable exceptions. His wines can be a little quirky (Lune, Fouchardes, Blanderies), but when they’re on, they are truly compelling and to me on a par with the very best Savennieres.

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While further escalations might well be on the cards, this is very much happening already and has been for at least ten or so years. Among other factors, the rise of producers like Leroy, Laureau and, perhaps to a slightly lesser degree, Morgat has seen to that already. Even Joly’s wines were mostly in the 20-30 EUR bracket as little as ten years ago, with Coulee de Serrant hovering around the 50 EUR mark (I’m talking EU retail). I remember paying just slightly under 50 per for his 2005 CdS. Now it’s almost twice that… Thankfully, though, some excellent Savennieres, perhaps even some of the very best, can still be had for less.

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Aha, makes a few things clear. Thank you for the info!

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Ha! I knew someone would notice the banker bit!! Well, Jo Pithon is a wonderfully charismatic personality and I’ve often enjoyed his wines in the past - so before tasting them I expected them to be like his but more expensive - but I was wrong. Simple as that. All three wines were much better than any of the wines I had tasted in previous years. I think Massonat has just provided the investment that was needed. Well, we will see.

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Domaine Belargus Anjou Ronceray 2018 : 16/20 - 9/2/2022
Schistes et grès poudingues. Aromatique (floral et fruité), dense, opulent (attention à ne pas penser à un vin du Sud, vu le degré alcoolique). On peut ensuite penser à du chenin (coing et pomme cuite) mais aussi à du chardonnay (ananas). Appréciable longueur pour des amers de qualité.

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Domaine Belargus Anjou Treilles 2018 : 18/20 - 5/7/2022
A really great chenin, crystalline, pure, fully balanced, persistant. Bright lemon tastes. Like for Richard Leroy Noëls de Montbenault, you can imagine (blind) that the wine is made with chardonnay.

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Two important things about Domaine Belargus. Ivan Massonnat has great faith in the terroirs and wines of the Loire Valley; he cannot fathom why the wines lag behind other French regions in terms of pricing. His wines as noted by several posters here are expensive for Anjou, deliberately so, as he aims to reset the level for Loire Valley pricing. It is already having an effect; on a quick tour of the Layon Valley a few weeks ago I focused on new domaines and new owners and many now have their top Anjou Blancs in the 40-50 euro bracket, or higher (e.g. Clos Galerne, Terra Vita Vinum, Chateau de Plaisance).

Second, the wines are exemplars of what I call the “New Anjou” style; earlier picking to get fruit with absolutely no botrytis, giving a much more linear, acid and mineral-driven style. Others in this camp include Pierre Ménard, Eric Morgat, Thibaud Boudignon, perhaps Emmanuel Ogereau, among others. The winemaker at Belargus is Adrien Moreau (just in case anyone thought it was Jo Pithon); not the French painter of the same name (!), but a young winemaker with previous stints at Cheval Blanc, Haut-Brion, Harlan Estate and Roederer.

Finally, of note, Ivan has also bought a domaine in Chinon in the past 12 months. The first vintage there will be 2022. I will probably go and visit him there later this year.

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Thanks,

Do you agree with this impression of Chardonnay (like for Richard Leroy) ?

Btw :
Anjou château de Plaisance Ronceray 2019 : 16/20 - 15/2/2022
Une belle découverte avec ce vin plein et dynamique, expressif, vanillé léger, coing, rhum, fleur d’oranger, citron vert, beaux amers …

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Thanks for chiming in, Chris. I’m a great fan of what Vanessa Cherruau is doing at Plaisance, although I don’t find the wines to be quite as good as those of Belargus - yet! They are a tad cheaper, though. I really like the “New Anjou” style - I haven’t tried Clos Galerne, but I really like the Bertin-Delatte wines, another relative newcomer. I tried the latter’s L’Echalier 2017 with a Huet Le Mont 2017 recently and was surprised by how much I preferred the former.

It’ll be interesting to see what Ivan Massonnat does with Domaine de Beauséjour in Chinon.

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FYI, on pricing: Gordon’s, in Waltham, Mass., sent out an e-mail last week pumping the Belargus wines. The offer included:

“Anjou Noir” Anjou Blanc 2020 at $35.99
“Roueres” Anjou Blanc 2018 at $79.99 (a dry Quarts-de-Chaume)
“Treilles” Anjou Blanc 2018 at $399.99. (The price was repeated in the end-of-the-week summary of offers, so I don’t think it is a misprint.)
“Echarderie” Chaume 2018 at $89.99.
“Roueres” Chaume 2018 at $79.99/375ml (a traditional sweet Chaume)

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Hi Laurent

It is not an analogy I have used in the past, although I think I know what you are getting at. Funnily enough Nady Foucault always used to say that top quality Chenin Blanc resembles Sauvignon Blanc. I don’t think he was suggesting it smells of thiols and cat pee (!), rather that more interesting wines have less varietal character, and the focus is more on the structure, acidity and minerality. When the two varieties were in that style, their characters tended to converge. Maybe he is saying similar something to what you are saying?

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You’re quite right, the team at Belargus really hit the ground running, with top-notch quality.

Yes I have tasted some Bertin-Delatte 2018s recently; I was really impressed. I have tasted their wines in previous vintages and found them of decent quality but nothing special. The 2018s were definitely several notches higher in terms of quality and interest though. I would certainly be interesting in tasting more widely or visiting - but there’s so much to catch up on!

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I was told that Richard Leroy loved white burgundies … these wines beeing a strong inspiration for him (btw, I regret he stopped to produce excellent sweet wines).
Whan I recently tasted his Noëls de Montbenault 2014, we all thought that it was a Côte de Beaune, including integrated classys oak and ripe butter, lemon and pineapple tastes (the guy proposing the wine, blind, agreed, perfectly understood us - we were 7 guys around the table).

It might be the same for Belargus, in a “burgundian” approach of chenin …

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I’m curious as to how the Coteau de Treilles tastes with the regime change. Still a high tariff, but Morrell has magnums for $399 and 750s for roughly half that.