Organic. Chenin Blanc. This small, enigmatic vineyard-cum-appellation on the north bank of the Loire River traces its roots back to the Cistercian monks of the 12th century, who, for good measure, also planted the legendary Coulée de Serrant next door. Its name, The Monks’ Rock, also refers to the schist bedrock and soils littered with volcanic rocks. Tessa Laroche is one of only 12 vignerons to own a parcel in this prestigious vineyard that sits high atop the wider Savennières appellation.

The wines of Roche-aux-Moines once produced what became a house wine in the court of Napoleon Bonaparte, and today, Tessa Laroche reminds us why Savennières was once considered among the most prized French wines. To reach this plateau, Laroche declassifies the fruit from any younger vines and yields are kept extremely low, usually around 30 hl/ha. Even then, the grapes are harvested at perfect ripeness over a series of six tris or pickings.

In the cellar, the grapes ferment through indigenous yeasts and the wines age for 18 months on lees in a mixture of used barrels (220 and 400-litre) and 20-hectolitre foudre. Unlike in the past, it undergoes full malolactic conversion every year, and the only sulphur addition takes place at bottling. The resulting wine is, to quote Jon Bonné (The New French Wine), “a case study in Chenin Blanc intensity”.

From a year Tessa Laroche rates as her most successful to date, the 2022 is a true terroir wine—with all guns blazing. Climbing out of the glass, the delightfully fleshy Chenin fruit is complemented by flecks of the flinty, dark-hued minerality that helps make this vineyard so distinctive. Laroche’s wines take less time to blossom than those made by her mother, Monique, yet this vintage could easily age, with benefits, for 10+ years.

Organic. Over the years, this iconic white has emerged as one of the Loire Valley's most exciting Chenin Blancs. Fruit for l'Insolite traditionally comes from two densely planted vineyards on clay and limestone soils riddled with sandstone and flint. The oldest vines are 90 years old. These lieux-dits—Les Cerpes and Saint-Vincent—lie close to the town of Saumur. In recent years, the wine has included fruit from several other plots dotted around the commune.

Germain slowly presses the bunches before the juice ferments naturally in 1,200-litre Stockinger ovals and 600-litre casks (ex-Alphonse Mellot). The wine rests on fine lees for another 12 months, slowly building texture before bottling. Germain thinks of this wine as the Loire's answer to German Riesling, hence the name, which means 'unusual'. It’s another wonderful release, rippling with fleshy stone fruit texture, citrus pith, smoky minerality and a food-friendly phenolic bite. The finish is vinous and sappy with a punchy, taut, gently powdery structure and salty mineral close—the hallmark of this iconic wine.

100% Chenin Blanc. The modern renaissance of Chenin de Brézé (as it was once known) owes a great deal to the Foucault brothers’ Brézé bottling and, more recently, to a new generation of growers like Guiberteau. This striking wine comes from two small parcels of mature vines (planted in 1933 and 1952) within the fabled Brézé climat, a terroir that once produced wines as revered as those of the greatest vineyards of Burgundy and Bordeaux. The lion’s share of the fruit comes from an important lieu-dit called Bourguenne, while one-quarter of the fruit is also drawn from the historic Clos de Carmes terroir.

Guiberteau now uses larger-format barrels from different coopers. He prefers Atelier Centre France’s thick-staved demi-muids for this wine, and he’s also engaged Clos Rougeard’s local artisan cooper Dussiaux, whose barrels bring smoky/cedary complexity to this wine in its youth. Furthermore, Brézé now spends two years in barrel (50% new) and six months in tank, recognising its potency and coiled energy.

Year in and year out, this reminds us of the force of this incredible terroir. This place can simultaneously deliver the texture and savoury reduction of great white Burgundy and the raciness of great German Riesling. If the Clos de Guichaux calls to mind excellent Chablis, the Brézé style leans towards the textural richness of fine Meursault (at a fraction of the price). From a powerful year, 2020 is still a babe in arms, bristling with dry extract, smoky reductive notes, nutty complexity and vinous intensity. The distinction of the Brézé terroir shines through in the wine’s supercharged minerality; full of chalky intensity, salinity and tension, it is reminiscent of the historic Coche-Dury style of white and unbelievably impressive and seductive.

Les Choisilles is named after the type of black flint abundant in the parcels that gift this wine. The main vineyards involved are Les Epinais, La Taille aux Loups and Clos Renard. The bedrock across these sites is tuffeau (limestone), and the vines range in age from 30 to 90 years. From 2021, Pierre Chidaine has used the oldest vines in Les Epinais (now over 60 years old) to make a single lieu-dit wine. In style Les Choisilles is a concentrated, focused dry wine that often needs several years to develop.

There is a touch more extract than in the Clos du Breuil. As the wine saturates your palate you notice the tighter acidity of 2021 and more of the struck-flint smokiness so typical of the Choisilles rocks. It's another alluring, pure-fruited Chenin, full of chew and bite, with waves of creamy stone fruit and mandarin shouldered by energetic acidity and pungent mineral freshness. Smokin’.

This incisive, Dagueneau-esque Sauvignon Blanc is drawn from vines aged between 20 and 50 years in the west-facing terroir of “Les Puits aux Chiens”. Sited on the right bank of the Cher River, it’s the highest point of the commune of Noyers, a cool terroir with shallow flint sands and white clay over Turonian limestone rock. Picked ripe, with barely any vestige of Sauvignon-ness, the grapes are pressed as whole bunches and ferment with indigenous yeasts in a selection of used barrels ranging from 228 to 500 litres. These vessels include those made using oak staves from the nearby Loges forest, selected and aged by Valentin Desloges himself (and coopered by François Frères). The wine ages for 12 months with a single racking and plenty of lees contact. It is bottled by gravity without filtration. Despite the negligible use of sulphur (1 g/L at the press and 2 g/L at bottling), it’s an incredibly focused, limpid, penetrating Sauvignon.

Jumping straight in at the deep end, 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 slopes on the Chavignol hillside terroirs of Les Chasseignes, Les Longues Fins and La Rue de Veaux. This is quite distinct from most Sancerre derived from the plains, with more fertile and productive soils. Importantly, Boulay also includes fruit from younger vines on the “star” terroirs of La Grande Côte, Clos de Beaujeu and Monts Damnés.

The juice ferments spontaneously and rests 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 lineup, yet even here, we can taste the finesse, texture and stony/earthy/salty minerality that has made this humble grower one of France’s most respected vignerons. 

It’s a fleshier release than last year, and you can look forward to flavours of intense candied citrus, sweet herbs, Kaffir lime and white stone fruit intertwined with a lovely rocky texture alongside deliciously salty, mineral vibrancy, caraway spice and mouthwatering phenolic structure. It finishes with stony definition, chalky cut and great length. The first wine in the range is already one of the finest expressions of Sauvignon Blanc you are likely to find.

Biodynamic. The lieu-dit of Les Romains is named after the Roman road that led down to the Loire River crossing. It lies almost directly south of the town, over the fault line marking a vein of flint. While these soils may suggest a strong resemblance to nearby Pouilly-Fumé, the vines don’t have to dig deep before hitting pure limestone. The vineyard covers 1.9 hectares and is planted to a density of 9,000 vines per hectare. Vacheron and Gitton Père also tend vines in this great vineyard. In general terms, Mellot’s Les Romains gives you racier acidity and more lime and citrus than the nearby La Moussière. 

Like all Mellot’s wines, the grapes are handpicked, and here fermentation takes place in 13-hectolitre tronconique cask. The wine aged on fine lees for 12 months. It’s a lacy, super-charged Sancerre: firm yet fleshy, with succulent white orchard fruit and creamy citrus supported by the vibrant mineral backbone. Substantial texture entwines with mineral freshness, and the wine finishes with exceptional focus and length and a tingling note of chalk.