The Loire Valley, where quality, longevity, and value collide

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.

Bertrand Minchin’s wines just keep getting better. This north-facing limestone site is cool and late ripening. In a warm year like 2020 it soars. There is such a fine acidity and outstanding length, with so much persistence on the palate. We can’t wait to see how the fruit and acidity entwine further with some bottle age.

Complex, smoky and floral on the nose. This is terroir-driven Sauvignon Blanc, with superb texture and balance. It is precise and layered, full of savoury, dried herb and grassy notes on the palate. Impressive length. A perfect accompaniment to fish dishes or with goats cheese.

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.

This new cuvée was introduced in 2019. It is 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 and floral character. Easy and appealing.

This Savennières has a brilliant attack. It is pithy and weighty, with plenty of energy. It grown on sandy soils over schist bedrock and the resulting wine is vinous and saline. A little oak gives structure to the palate and the finish shows ripe, concentrated fruit.

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. It is smoky, tight, and typically powerful. This is quintessential Dagueneau. It comes from various parcels around the hill of St Andelain with different exposures, making for a wholly complex, enthralling, and long-lived wine.

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.

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 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 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. Persistent and delicately light-boded at the same time. Served a little chilled this will be a thirst-quenching delight.

Pieuchaud is a flinty-soiled lieu-dit in the commune of Thauvenay in the south-east of the Sancerre 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 2020 this is restrained, yet agile. It would do well for a few years in the cellar, and its saline, savoury structure will make it an excellent food wine in the years to come.

This is Sancerre’s best known and greatest site. It is a dramatic slope of Kimmeridgian terres blanches in Chavignol that wraps around the hillside and dips down into the commune of Verdigny, where Luc’s parcel lies. His 2020 is charged with the site's natural power and depth, and has layer upon layer of energy and drive. Its ample weight and scintillating concentration promise it is built for greater things. Don't be afraid to cellar this, it will only improve.

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 2020 has tension and precision, with a fine saline structure. This is exceptional terroir-driven Sancerre from one of the finest young talents in the region.

For complexity, depth of flavour, and interest, it’s hard to beat this ancestral method sparkling wine from Vincent Carême. So vinous and lively, it’s delicious in youth, and fascinating with some age. It’s 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.

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, 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.

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. 2019 is a seriously brilliant wine. It has a subtle nose, with whispers of smoke and violets. The palate’s silken tannins and a juicy dark fruit core give it wonderful length. Outstanding value.

This is such a juicy, inviting delight. It has wonderfully primary floral notes, and Cabernet Franc’s structured freshness. Zappy and delicious, and brilliant if served a little chilled.

This is a grand cru in every sense of the word. It is so intensely perfumed with honey, flowers, quince and apricot. Outstanding acidity on the palate cuts through the concentrated sweetness. This is a high octane sweet wine.

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. It has a touch of tropical fruit along with the salty, leesy freshness, and a creamy texture on the palate. Excellent value.

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 delicious wine. Precise and refreshing, with a citrus, floral nose. The sur lie ageing gives it a fine texture and a lively freshness which are so well expressed in this light-bodied, paradigm Muscadet.

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. This has the variety’s typically racy acidity, razor-sharp and refreshing, with a sour-lemon tang. Piquant, lightly floral, with the drive of green Granny Smith apple on the palate.

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. The 2019 has a delicately floral lift, and zingy freshness. It's the lightest weight of the Closel wines, and will drink brilliantly from early on.

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 candied citrus notes on the nose, with a palate of electrifying power. Vivid freshness and impressive weight culminates on the long finish. Truly outstanding.

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; so refreshing and quenching.

This was yet again 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. A very complete and composed example of Quincy.

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 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.

Unlike his neighbours who use the lieu-dit name Cul de Beaujeu, Gérard keeps the original 'Clos' in his, as his vines lie within the oldest part of the vineyard, that had originally been surrounded by a wall. They sit in the chalky Kimmeridgian terres blanches soils of this dramatically steep south-east facing slope that rises up behind the village of Chavignol. Of all his cuvées, this is the most opulent in character, the most open and forward in its youth, with fleshy fruits and just a hint of tropical succulence, twinned with a superbly fresh cut of acidity.

Gérard's La Côte hails from the same highly-prized terres blanches (Kimmeridgian marl) vineyard as François Cotat's La Grande Côte (though in fact the parcel is officially called La Côte d'Amigny). The chalky soil here makes for the most austere of Gérard's wines, with a restrained nose that begins to open up with some air, hinting at the haunting beauty to come if you give it a few years to age. It is mineral and tense, nervous and fine-boned, with a precise and lingering finish.

This is Sancerre’s best known and greatest site. It is a dramatic slope of Kimmeridgian terres blanches in Chavignol that wraps around the hillside. Boulay's is charged with the site's natural power and depth, and has layer upon layer of energy and drive. Its ample weight and scintillating concentration promise it is built for greater things. Don't be afraid to cellar this, it will only improve.

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. It’s got a wonderful sour cherry note, with lightly smoky notes. This always works well in its youth.

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 always more present but now with a few years of age these have softened beautifully. There’s a graphite, savoury complexity to the dark fruit and a wonderful texture through the long finish.

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 2020 it is distinctly pithy and dry, agile and long.

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. Smoky, expressive, and bursting with pineapple aromas in 2020.

This great value wine from Touraine is fruity and fresh, with just an edge of Sauvignon’s vegetal green tea notes. Jean-François explains he likes to play with the natural bitterness of Sauvignon Blanc, brilliantly controlled in this example.

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 2020 has a ripe abundance of juicy black fruits, dry, well-formed tannins, and a bright balance on the palate.

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.

This is one of the best wines we’ve tasted from Jonathan Pabiot recently. It hits all the marks. It comes from a limestone parcel near Tracy-sur-Loire and is ripe, fresh, full of energy, and shows great character. The wine has spent 18 months ageing in concrete tanks before bottling, and it has a silky texture with a deliciously long, bright finish.

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 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. It bursts with lemons and limes, and has such a refreshing tension.

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, and a step up in concentration from the Grand Mouton.

Thibaud and Michel Chevré only started making this cuvée in 2017, but it was frosted so badly in 2019 none was made at all. It is a pleasure to see it bounce back in 2020. The 50 year old Chenin vines on sandy clay and limestone soils make for a beautifully floral and aromatic style of wine. It has a pretty fruit weight and long mineral finish. Very good indeed.

Thibaud Chevré is a seriously exciting young talent in the Loire. His father spent a magnificent career work 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 2020 is ripe but vibrant; expressive, bursting with chalky, saline drive, and a flash of zingy freshness wrapped around fleshy fruit. This is a domaine to watch.

The Pinard brothers, Clément and Florent, are top dogs in the southern village of Bué in the celebrated Sancerre appellation. They make various single vineyard wines in the village, all of which are highly detailed, gastronomic wines. Le Château sits just to the north of Le Grand Chemarin and Chêne Marchand, on Kimmeridgian marl. The wine is tense and powerful with a racy richness and voluminous, ample concentration. 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 the best-loved Pinard cuvées. It’s a blend of the top vineyards in Bué: Chêne Marchand and Grand Chemarin. The nose is so complex and already so complete. It offers up crushed seashells, anise, and a touch of tropical fruit. This is Sauvignon Blanc at its 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, with zesty freshness.