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

I saw that. These are a hard pass at that general level. NY pricing is pretty high too. I’m interested to see if they sell or get blown out on discount at some point. But I have seen the younger wine geeks in NYC chase the new generation of Anjou winemakers at what I think is stupid pricing and maybe Belargus will go on the hotlist (if the money is still there given recent events).

Has anyone tried the wine recently? I’m not really interested in the sweet wines, but here are the dry wines available to me:
Domaine Belargus, Anjou Ronceray 2018
Domaine Belargus, Anjou Noir 2020
Domaine Belargus, Savennieres “Les Gaudrets” 2018

This one I don’t know whether it is sweet or dry, there is conflicting information between the website (dry) and reviews (sweet):
Domaine Belargus, Anjou “Les Treilles” 2018

Rebecca Gibb at Vinous gave them rather tepid reviews given the price, but would love to hear from anyone else with first hand knowledge.

I also used to love Jo Pithon’s wines (IME he was a garrulous and fun character).

This used to be Pithon-Paille Coteaux de Treilles – not sweet

Coteaux de Layon is sweet

Recently had their 2018 Layon.

It was quite good. Acidity + sweetness in a good balance. It didn’t stand out as great, but not necessarily its fault.

It’s of course very young, and it was in a chenin lineup along with some steep competition ('10 Angeli Methode Ancestrale Brut, '18 Bernaudeau Les Ongles, '64 Pinon demi-sec, '89 Foreau Molleux, and several others).

I’d be curious to try it again in the future with more age, and it was certainly good enough where I’d try their other cuvees.

I’ve had the Ronceray and the Gaudrets this year - they’re both excellent but I just preferred the Ronceray. The prices of some of Belargus’ wines are a little “ambitious” but the prices of these ones are fine for the quality.

A dear friend gave me a bottle of the 2020 Quarts that was possibly the best Chenin Blanc I’ve had of my life. It is similar in style to Clos Rougeard Breze & the Guiberteau Clos de Carmes…but my dear god…it was breath-taking and a wine that I would love to be able to get more than a few bottles of. Pricy…yes…but the depth, breadth, and intensity of this wine along with the layers of complexity that came in waves…I’ve not tasted other memorable bottles from this producer…but I do think I tried a few of the others about a year ago.

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So they make a dry Quarts-de-Chaume?

Isn‘t Quarts-de-Chaume reserved for the sweet wines? The Quarts is labeled as Anjou Blanc. Our recent Bonnes Blanches 2019, also Anjou Blanc, was splendid as well.

QdC is definitely a sweet wine AOC, but a couple of people referenced a dry Quarts so I was wondering if this meant the producer was using QdC fruit to make a dry wine and forgoing the AOC designation and labeling as VdF or just Anjou.

I must have 2019, 2020 Quarts at home. From what I remember the label says Quarts, Sec, AOC Anjou. I can check tonight.

Copy/pasted from the retailer‘s pitch:

2019 DOMAINE BELARGUS QUARTS
98 THE WINE ADVOCATE : „‘Les Quarts’ is the original plot, facing south, which gave its name to the Quarts-de-Chaume appellation. As a matter of fact, until the French Revolution, the lords of Haute Guerche, tenants of the Chaume vineyards, used to pay the nuns of the Ronceray Abbey with ‘the best quarters of the harvest’. Thus, the name ‘Quarts-de- Chaume’ was born," writes Ivan Massonnat. The soils are based on Precambrian schists, which, according to Massonnat, bring finesse and length to this cuvée. Sourced from a 3.08-hectare plot, the citrus-colored 2019 Anjou Sec Quarts opens with a deep and intense yet pure, refined and elegant, noble and aromatic bouquet of perfectly ripe and concentrated stone fruits, jelly fruits, lemons, grapefruits, salts and crystalline rocks. Crystalline and fresh on the elegant palate, this is a full-bodied, intense, dense and extract-sweet yet also refined and stimulating Chenin with noble citrus fruit bitters and fine tannins on the long, tight and intense finish. This is reduced power paired with finesse and elegance. Far too young to be served at this stage, this is a promising, very intense yet still restrained Quarts that is not as austere as the Rouères and not as rich and expansive as the Veau but possibly something in between. There are graphite notes on the aftertaste. This is another rather intellectual dry Chenin from the Quarts-de-Chaume appellation that can only be used for noble sweet wines. Natural cork."

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Not only les Quarts; les Rouères and le Veau are another two plots within QdC. Belargus makes dry wines labeled as Anjou from all three.