Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The sample of the 2020 Anjou Noir is an intensely yellow colored regional cuvée that "results from a blend of the domaine's vines not being vinified from a single plot, providing a synthesis of the terroirs that gave rise to it (schists, pudding stones, etc.)," as Ivan Massonnat explains. Produced for the first time in 2019, this cuvée is aged in vats and barrels for a minimum of one year and represents the quintessence of Chenin cultivated on black schist. The 2020 needs a bit of time in the glass to open up, to refine and to exhibit its subtle, pure and refreshing schist aromas intermixed with ripe but delicate fruit (pear) aromas from white and yellow-fleshed fruits. On the palate, this is a light and beautifully balanced dry Chenin with a serious structure and lingering tannin grip and salinity. The wine is juicy but not overly fruity and already complex for the first wine of the range. A fabulous, rather delicate and finessed Chenin! Tasted in June 2021.
Barrel Sample: 92-93
Unquestionably one of the most diverse grape varieties, Chenin Blanc can do it all. It shines in every style from bone dry to unctuously sweet, oaked or unoaked, still or sparkling and even as the base for fortified wines and spirits. Perhaps Chenin Blanc’s greatest asset is its ever-present acidity, maintained even under warm growing conditions. Somm Secret—Landing in South Africa in the mid 1800s, today the country has double the acreage of Chenin Blanc planted compared to France. There is also a new wave of dedicated producers committed to restoring old Chenin vines.
Known for its delightful whites and sparkling Pétillant and Mousseux, made predominantly of Chenin blanc, Anjou has a temperate and dry maritime climate. The region's limited temperature variations are admiringly referred to locally as the “douceur angevine,” or “Anjou sweetness.” Fruit forward rosé and red wines from Cabernet Franc and Gamay merit Anjou its success within the Loire subregions.