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.

Sancerre’s best known and greatest site, this dramatic hillside of terres blanches in Chavignol wraps around the hillside and dips into the commune of Verdigny, where Luc’s parcel lies. This 2018 has that signature power and depth you should expect from this exceptional site. The attack is ample and weighted, with a luminous acidity that drives through to a long, lingering finish. This will age with great style.

Luc Prieur’s Sancerre Blanc is one of the best value in the appellation - detailed, balanced, so refreshing, and admirably ageworthy. It comes from parcels dotted around the village of Verdigny and is a blend of the three major soil types found in the region: caillottes, silex and terres blanches. The 2019 is poised and restrained, with a fine saline structure and impressive tension. This is exceptional terroir-driven Sauvignon Blanc from one of the finest young talents in the region.

Pieuchaud is a flinty-soiled lieu dit in the commune of Thauvenay in the south-east of the appellation. Luc decided to isolate this vineyard after noting it always produced fruit with great maturity whilst maintaining high acidity - the secret to single vineyard wines in his opinion. In a warm vintage like 2018, this stood out for its nerve, vim, flinty precision, and raw charge.

This is everything we’ve been looking for in a dry Vouvray: precise, chiselled Chenin fruit, balanced weight, sappy freshness, and flinty finish. It comes from clay and flint soils around the domaine, and is a great showcase for the 2019 vintage. So refreshing and well-made.

This sparkling wine is made by transferring the still sweet and fermenting grape juice into bottle, and then trapping the subsequent carbon dioxide as it continues to ferment to dryness in the bottle. No dosage is added, though the spent yeast cells are expelled, leaving a brilliant, crystalline sparkling wine behind. It has such a wonderful depth and complexity on the nose, with a vinous structure on the palate, and a salty zing. The creamy mousse wraps around crunchy apple fruit. Experience from tasting back vintages of this cuvée shows me this wine ages brilliantly, and will develop complex depth, and savoury precision with a few years in bottle. It’s one of the most exciting wines on the list this year.

This is the jewel in the crown of this domaine. It comes from a limestone (tuffeau) site overlooking the Loire which is so steep it has to be worked by horse instead of tractor. The nose has a chalky, mineral note alongside the apple and quince notes. The palate has a satisfying and silky weight, and a long, powerful finish.

This is made from two parcels, both planted in the 1940s. Jérôme uses the fifteenth-century tuffeau cuve in the old cellar to do a long, slow fermentation to bring out some delicious complexity in this Cabernet Franc. This has a subtle, sophisticated nose, and the palate is fine and enticing. Supple tannins, a juicy dark fruit core, and a long flow with a mineral finish.

This Cabernet Franc rosé is such a pretty pale pink. It comes from the domaine’s young vines, which yield a fruity and open wine. It has delicate sweet red fruit aromas with a minty lift. A simple summer delight.

This juicy, fruity style of Chinon has a vibrant violet aroma, with notes of sour cherry and graphite. Its leafy lift is typical of Cabernet Franc, as is the freshness of the palate. This is a zappy fresh red, perfect enjoyed a little chilled.

This has got to be one of the best value sweet wines on the market. It is bottled in 50cl exclusively for Lay & Wheeler - the perfect size, we feel. It is a beautiful pale golden colour, and the aromas are focussed around Seville oranges and acacia honey. The palate is singing with acidity: zippy, lightly bitter, fresh and just sweet enough. The finish is astonishing for such a modestly priced wine, with quince, tangerine, and honeycomb flavours lingering.

A grand cru in every sense of the word. Intensely perfumed with honey, flowers, quince, apricot, with that zappy bitter orange freshness on the palate slicing through the richness of the sugar. It’s like the best bits of a caramelized Tarte Tatin, where sweetness and acidity vie for attention. Brilliantly balanced, and a complete joy to drink.

This beautiful property was bought by Jérôme in 2007. He says that, as well as a perfect place to grow vines, it’s also the ultimate picnic spot, where the family like to shuck oysters with a bottle of the château’s beautiful wine. The 2019 has such a pretty nose - citrus, floral, salty… you can just imagine how well this would go with a seafood platter. The sur lie ageing gives it a fine texture and a lively freshness which are so well expressed in this light-bodied, paradigm Muscadet.

Grown on schist and galet roulé soils between the Lac de Grandlieu and the Atlantic Ocean, where the thin topsoil produces a very fine example. In 2019 it has great body, with the concentration that comes from low yields. The perfectly ripened skins at harvest time add just a touch of tropical fruit to the creamy texture of this wine.

This wine is made from the rare and exciting Romorantin grape. It has a fragrant nose of lilies, toffee apple, blossom, and notes of iodine. The palate has arresting, flinty freshness with a razor sharp acidity, giving it a stinging nettle piquancy, wrapped around by generous fruit. Don’t be afraid to cellar this.

This comes from various parcels of younger vines, aged around 20 years old. The name is a tongue-in-cheek nod to a dispute many years back with a neighbouring vigneron. In Savennières, the vignerons have a wicked sense of humour as well as great pride in their appellation. The grapes are picked at the beginning of harvest, and there is a pithy, almost spicy, salty tang to the dry but juicy palate. It has a floral elegance and its vibrant freshness makes it so delicious to drink right now. Precise, with plush fruit, and seriously refreshing.

This is the flagship wine of the estate, and the 2018 is a magnificent example. There is such sweet purity to the apple blossom and orchard fruit aroma. On the palate this is exquisitely long and fine; this should age with grace, increasing in complexity as the years go by.

These vines are grown on sandstone soils, and are picked around 10 days after La Jalousie, when the skins are a little thicker and beginning to turn golden brown. The wine is aged for 18 months in demi-muids, and the result is a wine that so perfectly captures the essence of Chenin Blanc. This is all crisp russet apple with just a hint of nutty complexity emerging. The palate is, whilst arresting in its freshness, also so silky in texture - a quality Evelyne says is typical of Les Caillardières. Captivating.

This is a blend of four parcels, with a high proportion of fruit from vines older than 50 years. It is smooth and fruity. Its brightness is piqued with a fine line of pithy bitterness. This is a great example of the appellation, and has taken on some definition and drive from its first year in bottle. This is so refreshing and quenching.

This was our top pick from the domaine’s four single vineyard wines. It comes from old vines planted on sandy gravel soils. It is always the first site to be picked, and in 2020 it captures the vibrant acidity and freshness of the vintage. The nose has subtle melon and green apple fruit, whilst the palate has beautiful energy, with crisp weight.

This is the defining site of Sancerre, and akin to a grand cru in the appellation. It is the steep slope that runs the length of the Chavignol village and its south-facing aspect and terres blanches soils produce the appellation’s most powerful and long-lived wines. François’s wine perfectly captures the power and finesse of this great site, with statuesque poise.

This terres blanches site rises up behind the village of Chavignol and although it is only shared amongst a few growers, is one of the most famous sites in Sancerre. It shares the power of neighbouring Monts Damnés, with a tender, fleshy fruit and floral texture on the body.

This comes from parcels around the village of Chavignol, on the chalky limestone soils. It is the most approachable and early drinking of the Cotat range, but even this will improve over many years. The juiciest and most approachable in youth of François’s wines.

Another terres blanches site, this is in the small hamlet of Amigny, and is considered by many as the defining wine of the Cotat collection. It often needs the longest time in the cellar, too. With time it will reveal a level of volume and density uncommon in Sauvignon Blanc, taking the variety far beyond its usual earthly bounds.

This sparkling pink made from 100% Gamay in the Loire has been the surprise find of this year’s rosé search. The ‘Zéro’ indicates zero chaptalisation, zero liqueur de tirage, and zero dosage. It is as dry as they come, and made much like a Pet-Nat (pétillant naturel), though the lees are disgorged at the end, meaning the wine is crystal clear and bright in colour. It has a beautiful pithy, pink grapefruit character, a light, scintillating line of freshness through it, and a gentle, creamy mousse.

This sparkling Chenin Blanc has fast become one of our go-to fizzes. Just like the rosé, this has zero chaptalisation, zero liqueur de tirage, and zero dosage, and is as dry as they come. This ancestral methode is the same as that used to make Pet-Nats (pétillant naturel) where the fermentation is finished in bottle. But unlike a Pet Nat, this sees the lees disgorged at the end, meaning the finished wine is crystal clear. The crisp orchard fruit aromas combined with a complex biscuity character on the nose are followed by taut precision and depth of flavour on the palate, thanks to the electrifying quality of the 2019 vintage. The texture of the bubbles is spot on: creamy and persistent.

Like La Bretonnière, this vineyard is also within Vouvray, but cannot use the AOC name since it is vinified in Montlouis. It comes from a south-facing slope, and Jacky and Jean-Philippe are careful to get the picking date right here. Too early and it loses its drama, too late and it feels overweight. In 2019 it is poised and vibrant, with a saline tension running through, and smoky, floral complexity.

All the fruit for this blend comes from two parcels found at the bottom part of the slope. Some vines here are as old as 80 years, so although the attack of this wine is juicy, upfront, and invitingly drinkable, the finish is sustained and persistent with that old vine concentration taking this above a simple easy-drinking wine. This 2019 has a leafy, sour cherry note, with lightly smoky, vegetal notes so typical of Cabernet Franc. It really opens up in the glass, promising it should age well.

Clos Mosny is a monopole vineyard, and 2019 is a brilliant year for this wine. The nose is a little more restrained than the Hauts de Husseau, with white flowers, apricots, and a gently leesy, cream note. The palate is bright and zappy, with a fresh lemon zing, and just a hint of new oak. This opens up well in the glass and should age fantastically.

This is the sweet spot of Domaine de la Butte - from right in the middle of the slope - and as such, produces the most complex and ageworthy of this triptych. Jacky and Jean-Philippe hold the wine back for an extra six months in the cellar before release as they know: this wine needs time. Its huge concentration and tannic stature are matched to slightly more new oak than the other wines. The density of fruit is more than a match.

In what was an extremely compelling line-up in 2019, this stole the show. Some of the vines here are over 100 years old, and in 2019 they dug deep. The fruit is perfectly peachy, with a cool and silken texture on the palate that is supported by the supremely well-integrated oak. It is so fresh and vibrant, with a complex evolution ahead of it.

This is as good an introduction to Montlouis as you’ll find. The fruit profile is centred on apple and blossom, and the palate has the tart cooking-apple acidity of great Chenin Blanc, along with a lovely lightly phenolic grip. Rémus might be Jacky’s entry level white but its quality is not to be underestimated. It’s simply made in a style that Jacky thinks will drink well from youth, so don’t hesitate to pull the cork.

This vineyard is actually within Vouvray, but cannot use the AOC name since it is vinified in Montlouis. It’s another of Jacky’s monopole vineyards, and it has made a driven, energetic wine in 2019, with great lift on the nose: citrus and blossom. The palate has a saline dryness to it and zingy acidity, making it one of the most thirst quenching of the vintage.

As the name suggests, this fruit comes from the top of the slope. The fruit feels darker than that of the Pied de la Butte, and the tannins are more present. There’s a graphite, savoury complexity to the dark fruit. The texture on the palate is great, quite structured and tight now, but with the potential to carry this wine for many years.

This is one of the most unusual and exciting wines we have on the list. It is made from Malbec, a variety that has long been grown in the Loire, known locally as Côt. Today it’s hard to find much Côt, and this wine gets snapped up quickly every year. The 2019 has juicy ripe black fruits on the nose with a leafy lift. The palate pitches concentrated black cherry flavours against soft, light tannins and a peppery, bright freshness. Fleshy, spicy, and delicious.

2020 is shaping up to be a great vintage for whites in the Loire, and this early release from Touraine is just the ticket: fruity, mineral, fresh, with just an edge of Sauvignon’s vegetal green tea notes over the blowsy gooseberry and blackcurrant notes the variety - in high yields and warm weather - is prone to. Jean-François explains he likes to play with the natural bitterness of Sauvignon Blanc, brilliantly controlled in this example.

This is made from the Chasselas grape, the lesser-known variety of Pouilly, with only a handful of hectares remaining today. Jonathan’s is one of the best examples: refined and floral, juicy and refreshing. What it lacks in Sauvignon Blanc’s razor sharp edges it gains in its delicate proportions.

Eurythmie is the domaine’s top wine and comes from a mixture of marl and flint soils. The wine is aged in demi-muids (large oak barrels), and the plump 2018 fruit carries the toasty, slightly spiced aspect of the oak with panache. This is a great match of vintage with vinification, which are excellently integrated. Superb.

From a blend of parcels across the limestone soils of the appellation. The cool nights during the warm 2019 harvest help keep the freshness locked in here. This has a limestone salinity and a brilliant tension. Such a great example of the appellation.

This is from a limestone parcel near Tracy-sur-Loire and in 2018 is ripe but full of energy. The wine has spent 18 months ageing in concrete tanks before bottling. It has a creamy texture and a deliciously long, fresh finish, with classic limestone drive at the end.

This is the flagship wine of the estate, and offers the best of Muscadet: pale lemon yellow, a little citrus and blossom on the nose, an elegant, defined length, with some savoury structure from lees ageing bringing it all together. This is an absolutely charming Muscadet. In 2019 it has an effortless freshness, and poised balance.

Made in much smaller volumes than the Grand Mouton cuvée, this is from a selection of the oldest vines on the property, planted in 1937. These vines reach excellent maturity, and the grapes are always picked on the first day of harvest. This has a wonderful perfume of lemon verbena and white flowers. There is a lively intensity here.

This is the flagship wine of the estate, and offers the best of Muscadet: pale lemon yellow, a little citrus and blossom on the nose, an elegant, defined length, with some savoury structure from lees ageing bringing it all together. This is an absolutely charming Muscadet. In 2019 it has an effortless freshness, and poised balance.

The perennial red-wine-bargain of the list, this great little wine has succeeded again in 2020. After a short period of ageing the wine is bottled, and even in its first year it offers an upfront, fruity and refreshing style of red, centred on red cherry fruits with detailed little tannins, that give it a nice grip, but also slip down a treat, even in youth.

This is made from various parcels of old vines that are all located on the hillsides, with good drainage. This is a benchmark Chinon that has flourished in the 2019 vintage. There is nicely fragrant red fruit on the nose, with a touch of graphite and seaweed, giving it an iodine edge. The palate has a spicy, lightly herbaceous weight and fine, firm tannins, with lovely acidity.

This monopole vineyard is found right on the edge of the Saumur appellation with Anjou. Its highly active limestone with clay soils produces wines that are taut and nervous, even in a warmer year like 2018. The wine is perfectly ripe, remaining fine and fragrant, with a salty freshness and chalky tension. Truly lovely Chenin Blanc.

Le Château is one of the best sites in the village, nestled in the heart of Bué, just north of Le Grand Chemarin and Chêne Marchand, on Kimmeridgian marl. The wine is tense and powerful with a racy richness and weight. Ageing in oak barrels (none new) gives this Sauvignon Blanc a roundness that works so well with the natural power of the site and this vintage.

Harmonie is one of best loved Pinard cuvées. It is a blend of the top vineyards in Bué: Chêne Marchand and Grand Chemarin. The nose is so complex: crushed seashells, anise, a touch of tropical fruit, and with some air a little camomile. There is such a nice volume and weight on the palate. This is Sauvignon Blanc at its rich but vibrant best.

Les Créots is found in the relatively unknown village of Thauvenay at the south-eastern limit of the appellation. Its quartz-flecked clay soils are fertile ground for quality-minded producers seeking vineyard expression. For an introduction to the domaine’s whites, you couldn’t do much better than this. It is floral and delicate on the nose. The palate has an agile freshness. This is a wonderfully restrained style of Sancerre Blanc.

This comes from a blend of parcels in the village of Bué, thought to be the best source of Pinot Noir in the Sancerre appellation. 50 year old vines and low yields of around 30hl/ha give wonderful concentration. This means volumes are small, and demand will far outstrip supply for this wine. It has deliciously fresh, ripe red fruit at its core, and silky tannins, it is an exceptionally well made Pinot Noir in any context.