WHITE WINE

Rich straw colour. Orange peel, crystallised ginger and spices, exquisite acid and sugar combination. Superbly lengthy and probably indestructible. Waves of flavour in almost relentless force. RICHARD HEMMING MW, jancisrobinson.com

The 2018 Vouvray Clos du Bourg Moelleux is ripe and already quite open on the remarkably fine and precise nose where delicate chalky notes intermix with yeasty aromas of ripe apples and even very fine flinty hints. On the palate, this is a sweet, lush, salty-piquant and refined but tightly woven Chenin with structure, remarkable finesse, tickling salinity and serious but fine tannins, as if it was a Pinot Noir. Filigreed and feminine on the tongue, the 2018 develops a long, tensioned, tightly woven and stimulatingly salty finish. Great class and aging potential. STEPHAN REINHARDT, Wine Advocate

This Domaine has a number of cuvées that often fall into what would traditionally be called demi-sec territory. However, Chidaine prefers to call these wines tendre, or 'gently dry'. This three-hectare clos sits just above the Clos de Breuil, on a plateau where the silex (flint) gives way to broken chalk and clay.
From a soil composed of clay and coarse flint elements covering the subsoil made up of tuff, the 2019 Montlouis sur Loire Clos Habert opens with a very fine and delicate bouquet of finely concentrated yellow-fleshed fruit aromas along with herbal and flinty notes. Round and intense, with perfectly ripe fruit, fine tannins and delicate acidity, this is a sustainably intense and salty Chenin that is far too young to be served today but will age for some decades. STEPHAN REINHARDT, wineadvocate.com

Previously labelled 'Unique' Sauvignon Blanc. With a new name and spanking new label designed by the talented French-based artist Louise Sheeran, the package here now reflects the quality of the wine inside. Cropped from mature vines rooted in the sandy clay soils of Cheverny's Fougères sur Bièvre, Blanc de Salvard is 100% Sauvignon Blanc raised on lees without any oak. The Delaille brothers' 2020 is another succulent and vibrant white, packed with aromas and flavours of pithy citrus, and shot through with smoky, resinous freshness and mouth-watering acidity. Classic Vin de Soif Loire.

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100% Chenin Blanc

Damien Pinon is the third generation of his family to naturally farm Chenin Blanc in the chalky soils of Vernou-sur-Brenne in the appellation of Vouvray. His vines are old, creating lush, expressive white wines.

The Tuffo cuvee is intensely aromatic and loaded with flavors of quince and apple. It has a wonderful complexity to it, hitting at first with burst of fresh fruit and finishing with a vibrant minerality. This beauty is incredibly food friendly, a great compliment for everything from roasted chicken, to fish in rich sauces to grilled sausages. PWS

 

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The 2020 Pouilly Fumé Luminance is pure, fragrant and enticing. Forget a bouquet of flowers for your nearest and dearest, buy this highly floral style of Poully Fumé instead with its attractive elderflower and nectarine perfume. Formerly known as Predilection, this is tender and far more textured than most; it's creamy and blossoming and that's due to both the kimmeridgian-marl soils and 18 months on lees. A light chalky texture coats the roof of the mouth on the long, scented and salty finish. REBECCA GIBB, Vinous.com

From Kimmeridgian limestone, the 2020 Pouilly Fumé Luminance (known as "Prédilection" until the 2019 vintage) is excitingly pure and mineral on the saline and complex nose that indicates ripe and concentrated fruit. On the palate, this is a rich and intense, finely tannic, bitter yet stimulatingly fresh and saline Pouilly with a long and powerful finish. STEPHAN RHEINHARDT, Wine Advocate

 

The 2020 Léon is surprisingly tangy and bright for this warm vintage with just 13% alcohol. It's light in body and focused while 12-18 months on lees has provided a sense of roundness and texture to the mid palate as well as a touch of autolysis-derived pastry character to the apple and citrus fruit and lightly floral aromas. Vibrant, fresh and youthful. Best enjoyed in the first three to six years of its life for its energy. REBECCA GIBB, Vinous.com

The former Florilège comes with a new name this year. Predominantly from limestone soils but also silex, the 2020 Pouilly Fumé Léon offers a clear, deep, fresh and spicy, quite complex and iodine bouquet with great precision and mineral intensity. Aged in stainless steel, concrete and 20% oak barrels (228 and 500 liter), this is a rich and round, very elegant and aromatic Pouilly-Fumé with good mineral and fruity freshness and a long, intense and tensioned finish that reveals fine tannins and crisp grip. This is a substantial wine with excellent aging potential. STEPHAN RHEINHARDT, Wine Advocate

Beautifully expressive Chenin Blanc, fusing both crystalline acidity with flecks of richness; white flowers, ripe lemons and subtle honeyed notes. Energy in glass and complexity that continually morphs as you go back for another sip; Underrated gem! JOHN BARR, BEAUNE & BEYOND

100% Chenin blanc, hand-picked in successive tries from 4ha of vines averaging 35 years old and planted at 6500 vines/ha.

From a single vineyard of 50+ year old vines on sand and silex (with pure limesonte just below).
Borderies is often the first vineyard to be harvested from slightly raisened fruit. Notes of jasmine, apple pie and crushed rocks on the nose lead into a subtle sweetness without heaviness. On the palate orchard fruits join in, signing off chalky minerality and a stream of quince-like phenolics which bring balance and punctuate the flow of sweetness. This is a delectable off-dry wine which could be served with cheese or richer seafood dishes. GABRIELLE POY



A little flint and white flowers with just picked anjou pear and a touch of pineapple and a little hint of bees wax. Fine and elegant with pure white fruits and a chalky mineral streak. Crystal clear and clean. Very pure. MYLES THOMSON, PWS

From a 0.8 ha plot ‘Le Grand Poirier’ planted in 1950.  This has about 50% botrytis and aged in older barrels. RS 85 g/l
Smells so very strongly of fresh sage and honey and pineapple and medjool dates soaked in warm water. Lovely earthiness. Linden leaf. Saffron. An unusual nuttiness. Pineapple syrup and pressed sage on the palate. The sweetness fills the mouth but this is a wine that needs your silence, your listening, your waiting. If you give it time, sit back, find a nook in the garden or tucked into your old armchair, it's a wine that gives so much more than sweetness. It hands you memories of rain on earth, of bruised clover underneath the ripening grapes, of bees, blue skies, black skies, pink-blazed-morning skies, mist-draped dawns. You can taste yeast, old wood, black coffee, a slowly melting fingertip of dark chocolate on your tongue, ginger-biscuit crumbs. It's something, this wine. TAMLYN CURRIN, Jancis Robinson

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Previously labelled ‘Unique’ Sauvignon Blanc. With a new name and spanking new label designed by the talented French-based artist Louise Sheeran, the package here now reflects the quality of the wine inside. Cropped from mature vines rooted in the sandy clay soils of Cheverny’s Fougères sur Bièvre, Blanc de Salvard is 100% Sauvignon Blanc raised on lees without any oak.

This is how sauvignon blanc should be. Racy, minerality at its core but tamed with white fruits, nectarine, a little hint of something tropical delicately in the background and packed with flavour without being a one-dimensional tropical fruit bomb. This a great example of what a little care and attention can turn this somewhat ubiquitous grape into something so freakin delicious.

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Damien Pinon is the third generation of his family to naturally farm Chenin Blanc in the chalky soils of Vernou-sur-Brenne in the appellation of Vouvray. His vines are old, creating lush, expressive white wines.

Ah Tuffo! This wine seems to never fail us. Not only is it a wonderful example of classic Vouvray it always delivers that little x-factor and bit of pizzaz we like. That lovely clay/waxed citrus and quince fruit comes at you straight off-the-bat with that slaty chalky thin that chenin does in the Loire so well. Some apple and pear drop generosity on the palate is cut by crunchy acidity and a little hit of phenolic grip that stick all those beautiful flavours to your mouth. There is a little floral flourish in the middle and spritz of mixed sweet spice on the finish. A cracker!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

Again this moelleux cuvée has a very gentle residual sugar, with just 25 g/l. Unsurprisingly it feels very pure and fresh on the nose, with a very focused style, with scents of peach leaf and some lightly honeyed orchard fruit. The palate is pure, fresh and bright, mixing a pithy substance of both orchard and citrus fruits, fresh and pure, with a very fine acid backbone. This is quite striking in the finish, where it is long and cleansed with wonderful vibrancy. Very good potential here but it needs time.”
CHRIS KISSACK, thewinedoctor.com

Chidaine does not release a Moelleux from his Vouvray vineyards every year—the balance has to be just so—and so you can be sure that when he does it is worth seeking out. It's drawn from the clay-limestone vineyards (of Le Bouchet, L’Espagnole, L’Homme, La Chatterie et al.) and made in the same fashion as Les Tuffeaux. As we have seen chez Huet, 2018 was a stunning year for sweeter styles of Chenin Blanc and here the song remains the same.

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

The 2022 Clos du Bourg Demi-Sec is round and appealing, akin to a cozy night in with your slippers on; there's flesh and succulence, but it retains its shape and a sense of lightness on its feet. The ripeness of white stone fruit reminds me of nectarine and a heady floral character reminiscent of honeysuckle, even verging jasmine. And yet, it shows its pedigree in its fine texture and line. REBECCA GIBB MW

The 2022 Le Mont Sec is a parcel of Chenin planted on clay with scattered flint, giving a certain tension to the style you certainly don't find in the come-hither Clos du Bourg. Its supple, concentrated core of fruit sits within a framework of structure. Both acidity and phenolics add tension and sinew. While some natural residual sugar remains (5.5g/L residual sugar), this rounds out the palate and brings balance - it's near-as-dammit dry in its impression and technically dry under Vouvray's rules. I'd like to see this with a little more bottle age as, compared with, say, Clos du Bourg, this isn't yet ready to approach but should blossom. REBECCA GIBB MW

In one of the region’s most regarded sites, Boulay’s vines claim prime position, sitting on that vein of Kimmeridgian limestone, the same that runs down through Chablis. Vines here are as old as 110 years. The steep slopes, old vines, and SE exposure ensures that this is often one of the most densely fruited wines. However this year I found it had a little more generosity than the others, certainly not a big wine, in the sense of fruitfulness, but if any in this bracket could be said to be “easy going” then this would come closest. I was startled by how good this wine was and it is only the first. Long, salty, tactile and struck through by a rod of acidity that tightens everything up at the end. It’s excellent! ROSCOE

Some may call this one of Chavignol’s Grand Crus, I would be among them. Though warmer and more exposed than some of Boulays other sites the steep vineyard has more chalky clay components in the soil, does that make a difference? I don’t know but every year I find this to be a bit more structural, grippy and phenolic backed wines in the line up, nothing this year to change my opinion there.
Where this sets itself apart from some recent releases is this tightrope it seems to be walking, perhaps the wrong analogy, more of a tug of war. On one side you have this compact but heavy, dense fruit pulling down on the palate while on the other, offering equal resistance is the crisp acidity and almost chewy phenolic/extract characters. They kind of grip the fruit and pull it along, for now they are winning this game but only just. I think this may be the first to open up and expose its more charming characters. When it does I expect it will be gorgeous to drink. ROSCOE

From a tiny 0.40 hectare plot of 70 year old vines on the chalky soils of Monts Damnes this is supposed to represent the pinnacle of the Boulay’s bottlings, usually it does. This year it goes toe to toe with the La Cote. Honestly, only time will tell which of them will eventually take home the meat tray, but for now I think it’s a toss of the coin.
Here there is an inescapable muscularity to the wine. It’s almost brawny and chewy. The extract is off the hook and it seems like its all that stands between your palate and a veritable onslaught of intensity and flavour. Hugely long and wildly intense, this is really quite something and has a long, glorious future ahead of it. Like the La Cote, these are Grand Cru quality wines that unerringly articulate their terroir. Exceptional wine. ROSCOE

... its straight Sancerre Blanc, a blend of parcels (limestone 45%, flint 45% and 10% marl), is fermented in tank after being hand harvested. It is a stellar ‘entry’ wine to their range.VINOUS

Domaine Vacheron is one of Sancerre’s elite properties, producing both white and red Sancerre wines of amazing purity and definition. The domaine has been completely transformed over to biodynamic farming with two young cousins, Jean-Laurent and Jean-Dominique Vacheron, at the helm. No synthetic material is used in the vineyard, harvests are carried out exclusively by hand, and the only fertilizer used is produced from the compost pile. Yields are kept extremely low. Having inherited some of the most coveted parcels in the appellation, the cousins are trying a Burgundian approach to Sancerre winemaking, with parcels being vinified

The 2021 Paradis is a crisp yet tender wine with bright elderflower, fennel and peppermint aromatics. It is a crunchy citrus style that shows a cooler vintage aspect versus recent warm years. There's a chalky tannin to it. REBCCA GIBB, Vinous

Domaine Huet reigns supreme in Vouvray. They make some of the world's most pure dry wines and piquant sweet styles from the racy and multifaceted Chenin Blanc. But you'll need patience, these powerhouses need around a decade to start revealing their inherent complexities.

Le Haut Lieu is the original vineyard,  purchased by founder Gaston Huet in 1928. It's based on heavy clay and chalk in the topsoil means these wines tend to be the most approachable in youth, though they age beautifully.

The 2022 Le Haut-Lieu Sec is a lithe, reductive style with floral character and talcum powder. Full of phenolic, lip-smacking texture woven through its core, lending a sense of satisfying grunt to this dry yet balanced style. Clarity, precision and harmony are keywords in this wine's execution. A little more fleeting on the finish than ideal. (5.5g/L) REBECCA GIBB MW, Vinous

Boulay’s entry-level is drawn from mature, 35- to 50-year-old vines rooted entirely in the limestone soils of Chavignol. The multiple sites are largely sloping vineyards on the lower flanks of the Chavignol hillside terroirs of Les Chasseignes, Les Longues Fins and Le Rue de Veaux. Importantly, Boulay also includes fruit from his younger vines on the great hillside of La Grande Côte.

The juice is naturally fermented and aged for eight months in tank, on lees, with a small volume also fermented in a single, large wooden cask. This is the only blended cuvée in the Boulay line-up, yet, even here, we can taste the kind of finesse, texture and stony/earthy/salty minerality that has made this humble grower one of France’s most respected vignerons.

The coolest site of the domaine and one that has less clay and more exposed Kimmeridgian limestone. It looks like what you want great Chablis to be, great Grand Cru Chablis. It’s taut, inwardly focused, almost painfully intense and it hits your palate like a freekin laser beam. The intensity if wild and the fruit, which sits firmly in the citrus and green apple spectrum, is overrun by the minerality which is accentuated by the electric acidity. This is a thrill ride of a wine. Take your breath away kind of stuff, but right now drinking it would be more difficult than pleasurable. I suggest only buying this if you are patient. With time this should be nothing short of epic. ROSCOE

The 2021 Florès is a very delicate style that offers breadth without heaviness. Having undergone the malolactic conversion, there's a touch of creaminess and roundness, which brings an approachability and ease to this acid-rich vintage. If you want a delightful aperitif this summer, start here. REBECCA GIBB MW, Vinous

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!