I’ve liked what I’ve had of Ogereau. The Anjou Blanc Vent de Spilite is impressive.
Good to hear. I’ve never disliked them. 20 years ago I just found them a bit boring. But I know generational changes abound! I have the '20 Savennières Beaupréau on deck and looking forward to that.
And how did you find the Utopie?
Yes, please do tell!
It was quite good, albeit slightly atypical. Lots of mineral and stony characteristics, very little to no grassy notes, and no cat pee notes at all. Leaner than some Francois Cotat Sancerre, very precise and chiseled while having a medium amount of fruit.
I liked a lot it because of its precision and length. Sometimes Sancerre from top producers can be a bit blousy due to the strong tropical fruit notes and oak treatments, but this was in a different vein. Now, is it worth ther $90 I bought it at… maybe…
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Yes, I agree, it’s excellent.
I felt exactly the same way. It was a domain I just felt indifferent about. Then after reading a good review by Chris Kissack, I bought a couple of 2020s…and was smitten by the new style. I didn’t know the old ones well enough to be really certain, but my impression is that since the son took over, the wines are completely different: typical “New Anjou” chiselled acidity but with very moreish fruit. I liked them all in 2020 but my favourite is the Beaupréau so I hope you like it!
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Yes, can be tough for mere mortals to keep up with every domaine as it changes through the years. Looking forward to it.
Chateau de Plaisance Anjou Ronceray 2022
Don’t feel like typing the list of flavors and associations (aren’t they usually 90% the same?), so let’s just say all good things we read here and elsewhere are confirmed. Maybe a tad richer than usual due to the vintage. 20 something eur in France.
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Had the good fortune to partake in a mostly-Bernaudeau, mostly-2019 horizontal. Overall, for me it dispelled the notion that his style masks the difference in the vineyards. The wines were all markedly different, as different from each other as they were from Montbenault.
2020 Ongles: Lovely stuff- a little hint of the exotic flavors of Nourrissons, but more linear, not as fleshed out. Generally think this wine varies the most with the vintage (e.g. 2021 and 2018 are very different wines), but I love it in all its incarnations.
2019 Coqueries: As often the case, the most “Anjou-y” of the cuvees. Very tasty wine, quite concentrated, but perhaps a step behind the others, and perhaps not quite as much to my liking as 2020.
2019 Nourrissons: The most exotic of the bunch, for sure. Passion fruit + grapefruit, plus all sorts of oolong tea and spice notes. The finish goes on and on. The unanimous favorite. It’s on a different tier from the others.
2019 Terres Blanches: My first time with this cuvee. I’m told it’s on limestone, but it tastes like a dead ringer for certain bottles of Leroy Montbenault- volcanic and a bit of reduction. Some of us (me) quite liked it, others (my wife, who said it tasted like asphalt) did not.
2019 Leroy Montbenault: OTOH, this one was right down the middle, laser precision, everything in balance. Nothing especially exotic, just very very well made. The unanimous 2nd favorite.
2015 Rougeard Breze served blind: Flawed. Definite briny/olive-y aspect to it. People were guessing unfortified palomino, or white Rioja, or other Spain/Portugal. No one called chenin and this has nothing in common with the recent '14 or '17 I’ve tried.
1989 Huet Fin de Pressee: Remarkable on Day 1. Bottle + cork in great shape. Easily enough acid to balance the 200g/L or whatever RS. All the layers of all the good chenin flavors. Saved about 1/4 of the bottle. Day 2 and Day 3 were still very good, but not transcendent like Day 1- slightly surprised it dropped off so quickly, but Day 1 makes it worth it.
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How is 2021? I don’t have a lot of experience with Bernaudeau wines, but I have enjoyed the 2018’s relative fleshiness quite a bit when I had it a couple of years ago. Does 2021 still require a bit of time or is it enjoyable now?
2018 Ongles was my first Bernaudeau, about 3 years ago. My whole friend group was blown away by it, I don’t think any of us had previously tasted a young chenin that profound. Even in a lineup of heavy hitters ('64 Pinon demi-sec, '89 Foreau Moelleux), it was the star. Insane acid for 2018. All the good parts of the vintage and none of the bad parts.
2021 Ongles definitely shows the vintage, only 11.5% ABV. First time I had it about two years ago, a very qualified somm tried to respectfully steer me away from it, I was insistent, he was right. It was well-made wine but very light, very acid-forward, not much depth.
Then I had it again last summer and it was an entirely different wine. Still very 2021, but fleshed out in its own right. Still probably not my favorite vintage, but glad I tried it that second time.
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Prices on these are insane!
Ah, see, I’ve taken to saying that the prices just are what they are, and it’s my friends + I who are insane.
(In all seriousness though- they are a good bit cheaper at allocation pricing, I’ve never paid $400 or whatever for Nourrissons, and the Terres Blanches came straight from Paris in my suitcase at a very fair price)
I thought that Nicolas Barbou was very good, and also very overpriced. What were your takeaways on it? ETA: Nevermind … I continued reading and see others already asked, and you already answered. 
A little price comparison every now and then is healthy;
I’m not sure about the release price of Rougeard, but from what I can tell Bernaudeau at allocation is cheaper or similar to(60€) Boudignon and many other names. From the Loire CB I’ve had so far, Bernaudeau is the only one whose auction prices I can understand.
@Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m The auction prices have softened tremendously on these, at least in Europe. The prices I got offered last week was something like 70€, but I still feel like it needs the extra gear for me to pay that.
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assuming you’re talking about the Utopie Creative, I probably top-out around 40€. I appreciate it more than I actually like it.
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My interest in Nicolas Barbou was piqued a couple of years ago when I learnt of his presence in the region, combined with his background, and then I saw the prices his wines were listed at in the UK.
I could see he was working in the Touraine Oisly zone, which (to my mind) is the least interesting of the two Sauvignon-based ‘super-Touraines’ (there might be a touch of irony in writing that phrase… like super-Tuscans?). While it is regarded locally as a source of a more ‘elegant’ style of Sauvignon, I have never found the wines to offer anything like the quality and interest achieved with more limestone-rich terroirs, (e.g. the Chenonceaux zone along the banks of the Cher, not to mention Menetou-Salon, Sancerre and so on).
So I asked to visit. He was difficult to track down, and to cut a long story short I had to get his contact details from a neighbour who was also a long-term friend of the family. His response was that he doesn’t do any visits or tastings (presumably limited to journalists - I guess the trade are admitted!). Take from that what you will.
It is interesting seeing his wines discussed alongside Cotat, because the soils of Oisly - north of the Chenonceaux zone, on the way to Cheverny - are typically alluvial, light, silty, gravelly or sandy, and they have nothing on the limestone slopes of Chavignol. If I were to liken them to any other appellation, I would point first at Quincy (not a slur - there are good wines in Quincy, especially the single-vineyard wines from Jean Tatin). I would like to taste the wines for myself to see what I feel about them, but not being permitted to visit, and not really in the mood to shell out for a bottle, it is hard for me to shake off a nagging sense of cynicism about the project.
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Very nice bottle of the 2020 Beaupréau, juicy fruit but more delicate and precise than the Bonnes Blanches, all of which was greatly appreciated. I know Bonnes Blanches was historically a sweet wine site, not sure if it is as suited to dry wines? But of course here we also have the elegant Savennières Beaupréau terroir. Regardless, happy to see these developments chez Ogereau.
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2020 Thibaud Boudignon Anjou Blanc - very tasty and enjoyable, but not on the same level as the 2019, probably due to the vintage. Consider me a fan of this producer and I don’t see how people find these wines thin or tart. But at $40, it is not a great QPR and there are plenty of whites that I find give as much pleasure for less money.
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