Loire Valley

Lemon, almond and apple flavours appear with chilli spice and salty notes. The white is light bodied and firmly poised. Chenin Blanc comes from a one-hectare plot in Brézé, below Clos des Carmes, on sandy-clay soil over soft tuffeau limestone. Vines were planted in the 1940s. Whole bunches are pressed, fermented naturally and matured for twelve months in used barrels.

Tonic character, fine bitter notes, vibrant texture, ripe-fruit flavours and freshness are present in this Chenin. The seven-hectare parcel has moderately sloped, east-facing ground and schist soils, with vines around thirty years old. Biodynamically grown fruit is vinified without chaptalisation, temperature control or a second yeast addition. Ageing takes place in seasoned oak, with one or two rackings and batonnage, and the wine is unfiltered.

Melon de Bourgogne comes from sixty-year-old vines in a seventy-are parcel on granite and orthogneiss. Harvesting is manual. Pneumatic pressing without settling and indigenous-yeast fermentation are used. Maturation includes twelve months on lees in an underground tank and twelve months on fine lees in older Burgundy oak. Citrus, lemon, grapefruit, white flowers, dried fruit, almond and toast are present.

Bright light-gold colour accompanies a slight oak note, vanilla, sweet spices, ripe peach, apricot, sweet citrus and beeswax. The palate is dense and fresh, with intense stone fruit, bright acidity, stony detail and a long, persistent finish. Chenin Blanc comes from Savennières. The estate was already farmed organically and added biodynamic methods from this vintage onward.

Chenin from a single parcel of twenty-five-year-old vines grows on sandstone and puddingstone soils in Anjou. The plot was in its second year of conversion to organic farming. Grapes are hand harvested and pressed slowly into French oak, where fermentation begins with natural yeast. The wine spends seventeen months in second-fill French oak barrels and is made without animal products.

White fruit, orchard flowers and subtle smoke accompany a dry, mineral Sauvignon Blanc with elegance, perfume and depth. Fruit comes from chalky caillottes, clay-limestone terres blanches and silex soils in Sancerre. Musts are cold settled without enzymes. Each soil type ferments separately with natural yeast in temperature-controlled stainless-steel vats before blending, slight filtration and seven months of ageing. The finished wine carries 12.5 percent alcohol.

Baked quince and dried apricot open into crushed almond, beeswax and a subtle flinty edge. The palate is concentrated and textural, with orchard fruit and a savoury marzipan note balanced by firm, rocky acidity. A fine bitterness adds definition rather than weight, carrying herbal and mineral detail through a long, dry finish. Decanting will help the layered character settle into focus.