Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From roughly 100-year-old vines in a northeast-facing vineyard in Saint Aubin (Layon), the 2011 Anjou Les Saulaies is a rich, concentrated, structured and powerful but elegant Chenin with very fine crystalline shale notes intermixed with ripe and intense, almost tropical fruit aromas. The salty-mineral finish reveals gripping tannins that have to be softened either by bottle aging or a creative chef. The potential of this wine should be enormous. Tasted in May 2018. Rating : 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.