Loire 2021 Releases

This north-facing limestone site is cool and late ripening. In a warm year like 2019 its quality soars. There is such a fine acidity and outstanding length. I was really blown away by this, and can’t wait to see how the fruit and acidity entwine further with some bottle age. Nervous and tense, this warrants attention.

This is a warmer, south-facing site than Fumet. In 2019 there is wonderful weight from the peachy nectarine fruit and a floral lift. Just gorgeous right now, and the weight will carry it so well through a few years in the cellar.

This is packed with juicy concentration, with an impressive tension. This is terroir-driven Sauvignon Blanc, with the texture and balance to age well, though it’s probably too enticing to ignore right now. Impressive length.

Around half this Pinot Noir is raised in oak, and half in tank. Antoine is clearly a skilled winemaker: this wine’s tannins are ripe and silky. The oak gives just a little lift and structure. This Pinot Noir stands out amongst its peers with genuine concentration of fruit.

As the name suggests, this cuvée has no dosage, and so has not a drop of residual sugar. As a result, the wine expresses abundant freshness and minerality, supported by bright citrus and green fruit. The 2017 has a bright refreshing acidity and subtle richness, thanks to its oak ageing.

90% Chenin Blanc, 10% Chardonnay. Year in, year out, this is a firm favourite of ours for its deliciously smooth, creamy palate, and fresh, lightly citrus flavours as well as its unbeatable price. The 2018 Saphir is brimming with energy.

This cuvée has gone from strength to strength since it was first made in 2000. Ageing in oak barrels adds complexity and depth. The palate is nicely textured and vinous, and there’s a wonderful fresh bread and bruised apple character throughout. This is really impressive for the price.

90% Chenin Blanc, 10% Chardonnay. 2015 is a superb vintage for this excellent value cuvée. With a few years in magnum this Saumur Brut has developed some complex savoury characters. With tension and energy on the palate, it has a good depth of flavour. This is a great format for celebrations.

This is a new cuvée in 2019 made from young vines across three parcels, all of which Damien has planted himself. They have all been pruned in the goblet fashion, which encourages small bunches to ripen: Damien is seeking an intensity of flavour. This wine has a lovely white fruit, floral character in its maiden vintage. It has Savennières’s structure, but with some pretty fruit, meaning it avoids seeming austere in its youth.

This parcel is one of Damien’s most prized sites, with rhyolite soil (he is very precise when it comes to describing the geology here) that is a “hot” soil, giving greater maturity than the schist soils across most of the appellation where tension is the signature. This is rich, creamy, supple, peachy, and structured. With a few years in bottle this wine is hitting its stride. Apricots and mango are intensely entwined with the punchy acidity, giving this wine dramatic drive.

This cuvée had formerly been known as Blanc Fumé. It is a blend of equal parts marl, clay, and flinty soils from across the Pouilly-Fumé appellation. It’s hardly fitting to call this Dagueneau’s ‘entry level’ wine, but it is probably their most accessible. There is ample green fruits and a superbly expressed chiselled texture.

Silex is one of the Dagueneau signature wines, and has brought an obscure name for a type of soil - flint - into the fine wine mainstream. The 2018 has a sublime power to it, and a smoky, ethereal perfume.

Pur Sang is French for thoroughbred, and his is indeed a first rate cuvée. It is a ripe and enticing style, with peachy fruit, and the toasty caress of a little new oak. Sublime winemaking, drawing out the weighty concentration of Sauvignon with the nervous and brilliant freshness of this region.

This is the only parcel Didier bought on the other side of the river in Sancerre, and he chose the appellation’s greatest site. It remains one of the defining wines of the Sancerre appellation to this day, expressing the profound complexity and regal power of the white Kimmeridgian marl soils of the famous slope.

This comes from a similar site to the Silex parcel, but is slightly lower and north-west facing, making it fractionally cooler. This means it excels in warm vintages. Indeed, tasting this, you’d never associate this vibrating, scintillatingly wine in your glass with a millésime solaire. Outstanding.

This vineyard lies right next to the domaine and was the first single vineyard that Charles Joguet focused on. Its north-east facing slope and old vines planted on clay-limestone soils produce a wine with outstanding energy, and spicy density. Profoundly deep but with no heaviness. There is such a sweet intensity to the Cabernet Franc fruit, and a mouthwatering salinity.

This is the domaine’s ‘newest’ parcel, bought in 1976. Located near the cellar, in the south of the Chinon appellation, this is like a mini Clos de la Dioterie, on deep clay-limestone soils with colluvial topsoil. It typically shows great balance between tannins and acidity, so smooth and composed in 2019. It glides to an effortlessly elegant and long finish.

This parcel is quintessential Chinon: at the top of the hill overlooking the Loire river, its flood plains, and the charming eponymous town. It is named after the huge and statuesque oak tree that grows at its edge. Its excellent position affords it good ripening and drainage. The soil here is clay and sandstone, and produces a wine with a pretty red fruit structure, and some distinctively spicy notes. In 2019 it has harmonious balance, a little lighter in weight than the Varenne and Dioterie, it has this amazing freshness to the fruit.

Chailloux is the local Sancerrois name for flint (more commonly known as silex), and this parcel is tucked up in the north-east of the appellation where this soil type predominates. It has a northwest aspect and is shaded by a large forest. Flinty sites are often a little warmer, but this one keeps cool, and produces profound acidity. This 2019 is so pure and fresh. After its 12 month élevage, it promises to be irresistible.

This parcel of Kimmeridgian marl, known locally as terres blanches, gives wines full of flavour and texture. The acidity and alcohol are so perfectly matched in 2019. This is all about power and precision.

Of the many Sancerre Rouges we tasted, this stood out as one of the best in the charming, early drinking style. It has lovely concentration of fruit with well managed ripeness. Whole bunch vinification gives it a delicate juiciness. Extremely pretty and nicely weighted. Drink this young and slightly chilled for a superbly refreshing glass of red.

This Pinot is all vinified and aged in stainless steel tank. This method helps capture the variety’s purest fruit, which in this case is ripe raspberries and redcurrants, with a charming minty lift. There’s a subtle graphite note running through the palate, and slightly more weight and persistence than in previous vintages, though overall it remains light-bodied and thirst-quenching in style.

This parcel is just behind the house, with Kimmeridgian limestone soils. It has fresh aromas of citrus fruits and oyster brine, with a lightly fruity and fresh palate, with nice minerality on the finish. Restrained and terroir-driven.

This pale pink rosé made from Pinot Noir is vibrant, fresh, and so easy to drink. Lightly scented with red currants, Sancerre’s signature acidity gives the palate drive and focus. Luc Prieur uses the fruit from his young vine Pinot, and the wine is juicy, bright, and refreshing: a brilliant alternative to Provençal rosé.