Winemaker Notes
Seductive aromatics entice with hints of apricot and truffles that lead to a decadent, well structured, full palate. Seamless notes of honeysuckle and cream linger on a lengthy, satisfying finish.
Blend: 100% Chenin Blanc
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2021 Le Clos is a round, serious, structured Chenin sourced from old vines on a chalky hill behind Careme's home and winery. Dry, intense and almost chewy. The freshness keeps giving and giving. There's a hint of salty sea and a touch of reduction. You can drink this now, but this is also one for the long haul.
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Wine Spectator
Shows good refinement and depth, with vivid acidity driving energy to the lemon verbena, warm hay and chamomile tea flavors. Medium- to full-weight, with crystalline purity and crushed wet stone and flint bringing pronounced minerality. Drink now through 2030.
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.
An important white wine appellation in the Touraine and one of the top in all of the Loire, Vouvray uniquely specializes in a wide range of styles from dry to sweet, and still to sparkling, each with its own definitive character. Vouvray is almost always 100% Chenin blanc (however up to 5% Menu Pineau is theoretically allowed but not often used).
Vouvray is also the name of a pretty little town just east of Tours on the northern bank of the Loire—its vineyards surround it to the northeast. Houses and cellars are carved out of the local tuffeau, a chalky or sandy, fine-grained limestone. Vineyards inhabit clay and gravel topsoil over tuffeau on the plateau, the best of which have a slight slope with a southerly aspect.
Chenin blanc’s high acidity and natural adaptability allow it to produce a wide range of styles with enormous success. Styles under the Vouvray name include sparkling, both Brut and Demi-Sec and still: Sec (dry) and Tendre (off-dry) as well as Demi-Sec (noticeably sweet), Moelleux (very sweet) and Liquoreaux (botrytized). Most can age about five years but the best quality versions will continue to improve over decades.