Loire Valley
Loire Valley
Laurent Saillard 2022 En Famille
French Red
Côt and a small portion of Pinot Noir form this Loire red blend. Blueberry and rose appear in a pure, supple profile with a compelling fragrance. The colour is dark without corresponding weight, and the wine contains 11.5 percent alcohol. Côt, another name for Malbec, is the principal grape in the blend, with Pinot Noir used in a smaller amount.
Arnaud Lambert 2023 Les Parcelles Chenin Blanc
French White
Almond, Granny Smith apple, honeyed flowers and mineral notes appear in a dry, delicate profile with present acidity. The wine is made entirely from Chenin Blanc grown on tuffeau limestone with sand and clay topsoil. Natural fermentation remains below seventeen degrees Celsius. Ageing lasts six to eight months in stainless steel, followed by light filtration and the first sulphur addition at bottling.
Noëlla Morantin 2018 Marie Rose Pét-Nat
French Sparkling
Cabernet Sauvignon is pressed directly, then fermented in fiberglass before bottling with twenty-two grams of sugar. A secondary fermentation in bottle creates the natural carbonation. The wine spends twenty-four months sur lattes before disgorgement and is bottled without added sulphur, fining or filtration. The organically certified vines grow on clay, flint and limestone soils, and the wine is classified as Vin de France.
Domaine La Paleine 2024 Saumur Blanc
French White
Apple, pear, white flowers and honey appear in a dry, medium-bodied Chenin with present acidity and a delicate texture. The wine has no oak character and contains less than 1.2 grams of residual sugar per litre. It carries Organic and Biodynamic classifications. The grapes are hand harvested, and fermentation uses indigenous yeasts in stainless steel; maturation lasts twelve months in stainless steel.
Clos du Tue-Boeuf 2019 La Guerrerie Touraine
French Red
Ripe redcurrant, blackcurrant and blackberry appear with violet and spice. The palate is ample, dense and fruity, with fully integrated tannins. This is a fresh, fruit-driven red made without added sulphur. The wine carries fourteen percent alcohol and comes from Touraine in the Loire Valley. The family estate works sixteen hectares across Touraine and Cheverny on flinty clay over chalk.
Domaine Delaporte 2022 Sancerre Chavignol Blanc
French White
Light gold colour with green highlights accompanies boxwood, rhubarb, blackcurrant, kiwi, white flowers, white fruit and citrus. The palate is soft and rounded, with bright freshness and mineral notes. Balance and a long finish are also present. Sauvignon Blanc accounts for the entire wine. The grapes were harvested by hand, and the wine records thirteen percent alcohol under the Sancerre appellation.
Domaine de la Paleine Saumur Brut NV
French Sparkling
Chenin, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc and Grolleau Gris make up the blend in proportions of sixty, twenty, ten and ten percent. The biodynamic vineyard is Demeter-certified, with clay-limestone soil and twenty-five-year-old vines. After stainless-steel fermentation, the wine referments in bottle to produce fine bubbles. Ageing lasts eighteen to thirty-six months. Disgorgement uses no added sugar or sulphites.
Manoir de la Tête Rouge 2016 Pierre à Feu Saumur Puy-Notre-Dame
French Red
Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon come from thirty-year-old vines on Jurassic limestone with flint. The two varieties are co-fermented after hand harvesting from two parcels. Dark ruby colour accompanies elder-bark notes, firm acidity and fine, slightly angular tannins. Iron oxides in the soil are associated with sanguine, meaty and metallic notes. The vineyards have been farmed organically since nineteen ninety-eight and biodynamically since two thousand ten.
Domaine Perrault-Jadaud 2020 Et Si Vin de France Gamay
French Red
Gamay Noir grows on sandy loam at Francueil in Touraine and is farmed organically. The fruit is harvested by hand and begins carbonic fermentation as whole clusters with indigenous yeasts. Maturation lasts six to eight months in neutral 400-litre barrels, and sulphur use at bottling is minimal. The wine is red and carries the Vin de France designation.
Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme 2020 La Tesnière Pineau d’Aunis
French Red
Cranberry, cherry, damp forest floor, clove and pepper accompany a pale, glossy red with juicy fruit, fine tannins and a mineral finish. Pineau d'Aunis comes from vines averaging twenty-five years on flint and clay soils. Semi-carbonic maceration lasts thirteen days in wooden vats. Native-yeast fermentation runs for two months, followed by six months in used 228-litre barrels. The wine is bottled unfiltered.
Catherine & Pierre Breton 2019 Nuits d’Ivresse Bourgueil
French Red
Smoky black fruit, spice and wild bramble accompany a broad, structured profile with smooth tannins. Cabernet Franc is hand-harvested, destemmed and fermented for three weeks with native yeast. Malolactic fermentation and ageing take place in used barrels. No sulfur is added during vinification. The vines are farmed organically and biodynamically, and the wine contains thirteen and a half percent alcohol.
Clos du Tue-Boeuf 2021 La Caillère Cheverny
French Red
Predominantly Pinot Noir with a smaller share of Gamay, this red comes from a 1.3-hectare parcel of silex and clay in Cheverny. The vines averaged about thirty-five years of age when documented, and the wine spends around one year in neutral 400-litre barrels. The profile is fresh, clean and aromatic, with reductive and herbaceous character.
Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme 2020 Romorantin Vin de France
French White
Rich fruit and a full, generous body define this Romorantin. The thirty-four-year-old vines grow on clay and flint in Cheverny. The fruit was fermented without skin maceration by indigenous yeast for three months, then matured for thirteen months in a used 400-litre barrel. Only one barrel was produced from the harvest, which reached more than fourteen percent potential alcohol.
Arnaud Lambert 2022 Brézé Clos de Midi Saumur Blanc
French White
Pears, herbs, white pepper and spices appear in a satiny, medium-bodied profile. The wine is pure, precise and tense, with salinity and a long, delicate finish. Chenin comes from southeast-facing vines in Brézé, planted on sandy clay over chalk. The fruit was matured only in stainless-steel tanks. The vineyard is farmed under certified organic and biodynamic standards.
Domaine de Gaubourg 2023 Mon Garenne Grolleau Noir IGP Val de Loire
French Red
Grolleau Noir comes from fifty- to sixty-year-old vines in the Grand Pierre sector. The shallow sandy-silt soil lies over grey schist crossed by quartz. Grapes were harvested by hand and destemmed. Maceration in vat lasted about three weeks. Ageing ran for one year, with half the wine in barrels that had previously held three wines. The finished wine is red and classified IGP Val de Loire.
Bodet-Herold 2019 Physis Crémant de Loire Brut Nature
French Sparkling
Chenin comes from a southeast-facing site with light, well-draining Turonian chalk and resurfacing limestone; Grolleau grows on heavier clay-rich marl. Whole clusters were pressed at low pressure, with first-press and end-of-press juice separated. Ambient yeasts drove fermentation, malolactic conversion was blocked, and the wine rested briefly in stainless steel. Bottling took place in spring, followed by thirty months on lattes and a low dosage.
Domaine Bailly-Reverdy 2024 La Mercy-Dieu Sancerre Blanc
French White
The profile includes pale yellow colour, green highlights, citrus, white flowers and a mineral touch. The palate is fresh, structured and rounded, with lively acidity and a long finish. Sauvignon Blanc comes from caillottes, flint and clay-limestone parcels. Hand-picked fruit is gently pressed, cold-settled for twelve to twenty-four hours, fermented naturally in temperature-controlled vats and aged for several months on fine lees.
Clos du Tue-Boeuf 2022 Pineau d’Aunis
French Red
Raspberry, flowers and white pepper shape this light Loire red. Pineau d'Aunis comes from organically tended, hand-harvested vines that are about a century old. The wine spends six months in old barrels and is bottled without added sulphur. Translucent ruby colour, cranberry and blood-orange acidity, green-olive character and a peppery rocket note are also present.
Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme 2019 Tuffeau Chenin
French White
Chenin grows on white chalk beneath shallow topsoil. The profile combines ripeness with the grape’s acidity, while minerality and salinity are present. Élevage lasts about a year in demi-muids, followed by another year of bottle ageing. The fruit comes from an organic grower in Vouvray, and whole clusters are pressed before fermentation in neutral oak.
Les Capriades 2018 Méthode Ancestrale Menu Pineau
French Sparkling
Menu Pineau forms this white sparkling wine from the Loire, made by the ancestral method. The fruit was harvested on September fifteenth and sixteenth, with a yield of fifty hectolitres per hectare. Fermentation began spontaneously in tank and finished in bottle. No additives were used, and the wine was bottled without filtration. Bright acidity and mineral character accompany its dry pétillant style.
Domaine de la Pépière 2022 Clisson Muscadet Sèvre et Maine
French White
Cooked fruit, ripe citrus, honey and quince appear in a rich profile with exceptional finesse. Melon de Bourgogne comes from the Clisson Valley, where granite subsoil is covered by gravel, sand, clay and river stones. The vines are farmed organically and biodynamically. After pressing and fermentation, the lees are stirred in tank, and maturation lasts at least two years.
Domaine de Baumard 2022 Pic Martin Sec Anjou
French White
The colour is pale straw with brassy highlights. Green apple, tart peach, lanolin, chamomile, crushed stone and almond are present. Stone fruit, green pear, white flowers and linen are also present. The palate is light and crisp, with balanced acidity. The finish is long, with sea-salt and quince notes. Grapes are harvested by hand, pressed gently, fermented at low temperature and matured for nine months in stainless-steel tanks.
Clos du Tue-Boeuf 2020 Le Brin de Chèvre
French White
Citrus, freshness and minerality are present in a clean, precise profile with a saline finish. Menu Pineau comes from a one-and-a-half-hectare parcel planted with vines between sixty-five and eighty years old. Maturation lasts twelve months in Burgundy barrels. The Brin de Chèvre site lies on the Monthou plateau, where its soils are clay and flint; the wine carries the Vin de France designation.
Domaine Henry Pellé 2017 Menetou-Salon Les Cris Rouge
French Red
Red-berry fruit, fine perfume and spicy acidity accompany developed tannins in a structured profile. Pinot Noir comes from the family's wholly owned Les Cris vineyard, where clay-limestone soils include Kimmeridgian marl and Portlandian limestone. The parcel's vines are about fifty years old. Chalky minerality and concentrated fruit are present, and the wine has a clearly defined tannic frame.
Domaine de l’Écu 2018 Rex
French Red
Fresh strawberry, cherry and raspberry notes are present with supple tannins, and the finish is spicy. Cabernet Franc and Gamay form the blend. The wine is classified as 100 percent Natural and made without added sulphites. Total sulphites are 15 mg/L. This red comes from France's Loire Valley and carries the Vin de France designation.
Brendan Stater-West 2022 Saumur Rouge
French Red
Cabernet Franc from young vines in the La Ripaille parcel shows redcurrant, pomegranate and earth, with mushroom, spice and humus also present. The fruit is fresh, the texture silky and the tannins fine. The vines grow on clay-limestone soils, and the wine has medium structure; suggested serving temperature is 16°C. Pairings include red meat, white meat, veal, sausage and cheese.
Château du Hureau 2017 Lisagathe Saumur-Champigny
French Red
Cabernet Franc comes from old vines rooted in clay and sand over Turonian limestone. Harvesting is by hand, followed by sorting and complete destemming. Maceration lasts twenty-five to thirty-five days, and malolactic fermentation takes place in tank. The wine matures for eighteen to twenty-four months in foudres and barrels. Its profile combines depth and power with finesse.
François Chidaine 2020 Les Argiles Vin de France
French White
Apricot, honey, citrus, pear and apple accompany a broad, dry profile with fresh acidity. The mid-palate is rich and rounded, and the finish is textural, with subtle apple-pie notes. Chenin grows in deep clay and white chalk above tuffeau. Indigenous yeasts ferment in six-hundred-litre demi-muids, where the wine also matures on its lees. The vineyard is farmed organically and biodynamically.
Domaine Calvez-Bobinet 2016 Greta Carbo Saumur-Champigny
French Red
Cabernet Franc comes from a small single parcel whose vines produce unevenly sized berries. Carbonic maceration is used for the grapes and gives the wine its particular identity. The texture is silky, with vegetal, fruit and pepper notes and a delicate palate. It is a red from Saumur-Champigny in the Loire Valley and contains twelve and a half percent alcohol.
Domaine Guiberteau 2021 Saumur Rouge
French Red
Cabernet Franc comes from three old-vine parcels with silty and sandy topsoils over limestone. The vines were planted in the mid-1950s. Grapes are fully destemmed, fermented in concrete with indigenous yeast and matured for twelve months in a large conical wooden vat. Sour cherry, blackberry and raspberry appear with bell pepper, earth, violets and flint. The palate has fresh acidity and fine tannins, with a mineral and herbal finish.