Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Chenin Blanc
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Germain's 2018 Saumur L'Échelier is clear and fresh but most of all intense and supple on the nose that represents the dry and warm vintage with enormously ripe and concentrated aromas of yellow-fleshed fruits, but still there is the flinty tuff limestone terroir present that gives this a particular character, even in an abnormal vintage. The palate is generous and wide but still elegant and fresh, with salt and grapefruit bitters as well as the refreshing dash of lemon juice in the intense and textural finish. A highlight of the 2018 vintage in the Anjou-Saumur-Touraine appellations. Tasted in June 2021.
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.
Marked by great châteaux built with the same tuffeau limestone that is also responsible for the excavation of so many of the famed Loire caves, Saumur is famous for its Chenin blanc based sparkling wines. Inside the Saumur region, Saumur-Champigny creates some of the Loire’s greatest Cabernet Francs.