Winemaker Notes
Pair with white meat in sauce, fish with beurre blanc or even simply with a good cheese like goat cheese or Cantal.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Joly's golden-yellow 2014 Savennières Les Vieux Clos is pure and elegant on the herbal and flinty nose, where spicy lemon/lemon grass and ripe, concentrated fruit aromas are displayed. Very well defined! On the palate, the 14.5% alcohol comes along in perfect balance: very elegant and finesse-full. since the powerful body is lifted by a piquant acidity, a lovely transparency and finesse, and finally escorted by a dense and lush fruit texture. The finish is very precise, fresh and aromatic, but also full of elegance, salt and stimulation.
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Wine & Spirits
This is a selection from 13.5 acres of relatively young vines (around 20 years old) growing on schist with quartz and a little sand. What’s not mineral about the wine is focused on baked quince flavor, perfumed and complex, both texturally and in its layers of spice and floral scents. The tannic power of the schist and some oxidative edges add risk to predictions about aging it, but the wine’s energy suggests it’s a good bet.
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.