Chenin Blanc

Château Pierre-Bise is part of Chenin Blanc royalty and René Papin is the third generation of this organically-farmed estate making fantastic wines from Anjou to Savennières and Coteaux du Layon. This dry Chenin has a ripe yet fresh aromatic profile. Notes of honey and dried apple greet you on the nose. The palate is beautifully balanced between ripe fruit and fresh acidity. This is textural, voluminous, honeyed with a wonderful punchiness and grip to the finish. Classy.

Château Pierre-Bise is part of Chenin Blanc royalty and René Papin is the third generation of this organically-farmed estate making fantastic wines from Anjou to Savennières and Coteaux du Layon. This, from one of the most revered sites in Savennières is from a single parcel grown on a mix of purple schist, sandstone and granitic soil. It spends 20 months ageing in the cellar in a mix of stainless steel, barrels, foudres and amphora. The nose is a complex and alluring mix of floral and honey notes. The palate is full of complexity with swirling minerality throughout and wonderful texture and depth. The finish is everlasting with a delicious bite and lots of spice. Very impressive.

Château Pierre-Bise is part of Chenin Blanc royalty and René Papin is the third generation of this organically-farmed estate making fantastic wines from Anjou to Savennières and Coteaux du Layon. Ripe and broody on the nose, with lots of dried apple coming through. The palate has a wonderful texture and lots of volume, with elegant honey and dried apple notes leading to a delicious, grippy finish. This is a seriously classy wine.

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. It has such a chalky note on the nose, it almost reminds me of Sancerre grown on terres blanches soils. With greengage and lime singing out, and mineral energy and tension driving it forward, this is a brilliant wine you’ll wish you bought more of.

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 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, andin 2020 has an electric energy. It’s so bright, and with a clean, precise weight and length, it’s hard to imagine a better example of the appellation for the price.

A special parcel of the flagship wine of the estate, sourced straight from the domaine. With age, this has developed wonderful dried orange and toffee notes on the nose. The palate is still fresh and very complex, full of roasted nut, honey, and dried apple. Very long.

These vines are grown on sandstone soils, and are picked when the skins are beginning to turn golden. The wine is aged for 15 months in demi-muids, and the result is a wine that so perfectly captures the essence of Chenin Blanc. This is packed with rich, appley fruit and just a hint of nutty complexity emerging. The palate is,supremely fresh and powerful yet with a gorgeous silky texture - a quality typical of Les Caillardières. This is the dark horse of the Closel cellar: one to drink before the Clos du Papillon perhaps, but capable of giving as much enjoyment from its complex, gourmand and mineral layers.

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, salty tang to the dry, hugely textural palate. It's the lightest weight of the Closel wines, vinified 100% in stainless steel. This is fresh, with great tension and verve and an impressively long and evolving finish to it.

This is the flagship wine of the estate, offering up power, precision, and remarkable ageing ability. It shows a heady concoction of sweet blossom and confit citrus notes on the nose, with a palate of electrifying power and brightness. Vivid freshness and impressive weight culminates on the long finish. A true superstar.

After working and traveling in France and abroad, young winegrowing couple Anne-Laura and Victor settled in Juigné-sur-Loire to create Domaine du Matin Calme in spring 2022. Nestled in the heart of the Loire Valley, the estate spans 16 hectares of exceptional terroir, typical of Anjou. Coming from the ‘Martigneau’ parcel, grown on blue slate soil, this is round with expressive honeyed notes on the nose. The palate is textural, fresh and really mineral. There’s amazing energy and a delicious stony, flinty finish. Very sophisticated. Exclusive to Lay & Wheeler in the UK.

After working and traveling in France and abroad, young winegrowing couple Anne-Laura and Victor settled in Juigné-sur-Loire to create Domaine du Matin Calme in spring 2022. Nestled in the heart of the Loire Valley, the estate spans 16 hectares of exceptional terroir, typical of Anjou. Coming from the ‘Le Cahier’ parcel, grown on Rhyolite volcanic soil, this is pure and very mineral on the nose. The palate has a superb tension with plenty of grippy apple, white pepper and a driving acidity into the long, fresh finish. Very classy. Exclusive to Lay & Wheeler in the UK.

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. It's as dramatic and exciting as it comes: pithy, zesty and fantastically long.

Clos Mosny is a walled 12 hectare vineyard which consistently produces one of our favourite wines from Jacky. It is so beautifully aromatic, with an energetic drive on the palate. The fruit is almost flamboyant in its expression, yet the saline tension of the acidity keeps everything tightly in balance, making this a serious and age-worthy expression of Chenin Blanc. Just a hint of new oak adds a creaminess to the texture. Very long on the finish, with crunchy apple and blossom enveloping the palate.

Some of the vines in this vineyard are over 100 years old, and the wine always has a thrilling concentration and precision derived from the high limestone content of the soil. The fruit is chiselled, nicely tart, with a delicious fresh ripeness underneath - everything you want from Chenin Blanc.

This is as good an introduction to Montlouis as you’ll find, and a top class example of great Chenin Blanc that shows well from early on. The attractive nose is floral and appley, followed by the tart bramley apple acidity typical of Chenin Blanc on the palate, along with a lightly phenolic grip. Rémus might be the domaine's entry level white but its quality is not to be underestimated. It’s simply made in a style that Jacky knew would drink well from youth, so don’t hesitate to pull the cork. Expressive, and precise.

This is another of the domaine's outstanding monopole vineyards. Like Clos de Venise, it actually lies within Vouvray, but becuase it is vinified on the other side of the river, in Montlouis, it cannot use the AOC name on its label. This irritating quirk of appellation beaurocracy should not overshadow the quality found here. Bretonnière has astonishing length and persistence. This, combined with its perfectly weighted body gives the impression of both concentration and density as well as a light-as-air frame, make it a captivating Chenin Blanc. It brims with citrus and blossom notes on the nose, with a spicy, saline palate. Yet again a pick of the vintage.

Thibaud Chevré is a seriously exciting young talent in the Loire. His father spent a magnificent career working with Thierry Germain, and this is only the second year for this cuvee. 100% Chenin Blanc, this clos vineyard is planted with northerly exposure ensuring this is pure, mineral and fresh. Vinifed 50% in stainless steel and 50% in oak barrel - the palate is very focussed and precise with lots of elegant appley fruit, culminating in a long, mineral finish.

Thibaud Chevré is a seriously exciting young talent in the Loire. His father spent a magnificent career working with Thierry Germain, and this wonderful vineyard - Clos de l'Ecotard - was the first parcel the father-and-son team bought. It's found right on the edge of the Saumur’s border with Anjou, and its highly active limestone and clay soil produces taut and nervous wines that reverberate with tension and energy, even in warmer years. They only use horses to plough it, but the extra hard work is worth it. The 2022 continues to see them realising the toil of the past decade, bringing to fruition a truly magnificent Chenin Blanc. It is so pretty and expressive, bursting with chalky, saline focus and texture, and a flash of green pineapple freshness. A brilliant Chenin Blanc. Exclusive to Lay & Wheeler in the UK.