Dry Chenin January is in full swing.
La Porte Saint Jean VdF La Berlee 2023
f.k.a. la Perlee Saumur (and in 2023 Les Pouches rouge became Les Bouches VdF : there must be an amusing story to this, starring a strongheaded winemaker standing up to bureaucracy).
10% abv !!
Otherwise everything as before. High acidity, a bit on an austere side. Salinity, ginger, chalk, green sour apples, lemon, starfruit. Dry Kabinett drinkers will love it.
Indeed, Collier starches something in my midbrain that nothing else quite does. This is my cellar in order of bottles, so I guess it’s close enough to my hierarchy, but 70% is Collier. I’d buy Bernadeau but the prices and availability throw me off. I drink them in Europe when I get a chance. Curious what your hierarchy is.
| Domaine du Collier |
|---|
| Domaine Guiberteau |
| Thibaud Boudignon |
| Clos Rougeard (Foucault) |
| Château Yvonne |
| Ferme de la Sansonnière (Mark Angeli) |
| Domaine Huet |
| Domaine Bernard Baudry |
| François Pinon |
| Thierry Germain |
| Brendan Stater-West |
What did you think of the Collier Charpentrie 2020? I loved it.
Interesting that you put Guiberteau so high up. Is that just a quirk of purchasing patterns or you really rate them so highly?
The 2021 vintage has been good to me in the Loire, but not right now. 2021 Huet Clos du Bourg Sec was regal and poised in its broad-shouldered frame, good depth to the fruit and good acid/mineral structure. But the apple flavors at the moment are inbetween youthful exuberance and aged elegance and are not very compelling. Lacking enough life to get me excited.
I’ve had several more exciting bottles of 2021 Chidaine Les Choisilles in recent years, and this one sort-of carried that tradition. Ripe and rich in the modern idiom, but with 2021 drive. Not the same regal carriage of Clos du Bourg, but still plenty of texture and more lively quince/kumquat flavors at the moment, plus more drive. Prefer this one today, maybe not in a few decades…
I think we’re pretty much aligned on who makes interesting Chenin. I’m a follower of the new and low-intervention school, so mine looks a little bit different.
Bernaudeau
Richard Leroy
Rougeard (Foucault era— although I’m late to the party, so I haven’t had many)
Domaine des Roches
Collier
Martial Angeli (Especially since Martial took over, the wines have become much more precise)
Boudignon
Olivier Lejeune
Guiberteau
Then there’s, of course, Xavier Caillard, but those wines are maybe a little bit eccentric and not representative of the region?
So you can actually buy his wines each vintage? You must be one of the few.
It seems to me that he allocates widely but in small quantities, so whenever it happens, it’s because a caviste gets some 24 bottles in and they fly off the shelves fast for trusted customers, so it’s about knowing when the yearly allocations drop. An honest caviste is even rarer these days, as most will sell them at 170€ a bottle or bundled in some strange package.
And for what it’s worth, I receive singles, which is not ideal with the bottle variation.
This bottle might be bulletproof. My note says hold 10-20, but might need more like 30 years. It seriously reminded me of a significantly better version of a 2016 LHL Demi I had recently, but not nearly as advanced.
Very good, hold next bottle 10-20 years.Started off with wool in the front, blew off a little and opened up to fruit. Good acid, drank like a 10 year old bottle, not an almost-30 year old bottle.Beaten by th 96 Darten BA, which was showing much more advanced and complete. (94 points)
I’ve never tried the Charpentrie - is it much better than the normal cuvée? Worth the price hike?
It’s a quirk of purchasing patterns (I’ve been buying/had access to Guiberteau longer). I probably like Boudignon more, but for me there is Collier then a drop then it’s a style thing. There are others I like, but this is what I have in the cellar.
I’ve had great bottles and terrible bottles and said goodbye once the prices started really increasing.
I’ve liked what I’ve had from Lejeune, but don’t cellar any. I also quite like the Plaisance wines, although they may be a bit straight-down-the-middle for some folks.
Cool list, I think we’d enjoy drinking together.
That’s a tough question to answer. The Charpentrie is more focused, precise, and linear. Some of the vines are 100+ years old, and it shows. If I had to choose in any particular vintage, I think it’s worth the extra money, but it’s a different enough wine that it can be a taste thing.
It is as gorgeous as always. For me it is an ultimate comfort wine: it welcomes you, it guides you home, it tucks you in and makes sure that you are all right. It doesn’t have this jolt that other more electric renditions of Chenin deliver. What is does have is the completeness and balance.
I would drink it regularly if I had enough access at non gouging prices. Come to think of it I never had it side by side with a regular Saumur. I must have some 2021s within reach, we will see.
By the way, Domaine aux Moines the other day was excellent. O
Thanks Nathan, I’ll look out for some !
Spot on! I bought a 2020 precisely because I wanted to try it with one of my usual suspects.
Hopefully, we’ll share a bottle one day.
I heard that Lejeune from this past year doesn’t export outside of France, so it might get harder to get across, unfortunately. But the 24 Mois Elevage Poeisis is bonkers.
bummer…
2015 Thibaud Boudignon Anjou Blanc - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Anjou (1/26/2026)
{TCA} … and especially frustrating here because I was saving this lone bottle for a few extra years because my previous bottle had me thinking this would age well. I lost my patience a bit earlier than I was hoping, but – past the light TCA – it was apparent this was taking to its cellar time quite nicely. NR (flawed)
2023 François Chidaine Montlouis-sur-Loire Les Bournais - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Montlouis-sur-Loire (2/2/2026)
Medium golden color, classic waxy fruit chenin nose, richly flavored, a touch of sweetness (this is 5th from the driest on Chidaine’s scale they print on the back label), enough acidity, it’s a yummy, though somewhat straightforward wine. First Chidaine I’ve bought in quite a while, after having too many premox problems with the 14s. Chidaine used to be a no-brainer daily drinker when you could get them in the $18-20 range, but no longer. Not sure what’s in the bottle justifies paying $45. (88 points)
2022 Thibaud Boudignon Savennières Clos de la Hutte - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Savennières (1/25/2026)
Good medium intensity, great acidity, mineral, steel, elegant, restrained power. A delicious wine that shows itself not with overwhelming intensity, but beautiful subtle complexity. (94 points)
Sounds lovely. Do you think these are open and approachable young or best with some age? Partly down to personal preference, I realize.
