Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Brézé Blanc 2018

100% Chenin Blanc. The modern renaissance of Chenin de Brézé (as it was once known), obviously owes a great deal to the Foucault brothers’ Brézé bottling, and more recently to the new generation of growers like Guiberteau. This striking wine comes from two small parcels of mature vines (planted in 1933 and 1952) within the fabled Brézé climat, a terroir that once produced wines equally as revered as those of the greatest vineyards of Burgundy and Bordeaux. One-quarter of the fruit is also drawn from the historic Clos de Carmes terroir.

Brézé is not typical Saumur at all. The vineyards are at a higher elevation than most of the surrounding area and sit directly on a hill of tuffeau—a porous, chalky limestone intermixed with clay and sand. Something like 70% of the vineyard has less than one metre of topsoil so the vines of any age must establish roots in the chalky bedrock. This terroir creates a far more citrus, floral and mineral expression of Chenin. Even in ripe and powerful vintages, the wines remain cool, pure and fresh.

Guiberteau now uses larger-format barrels from different coopers. He has found he prefers Atelier Centre France’s thick-staved demi-muids for this wine (he’s also engaged Clos Rougeard’s local cooper to supply some barrels). Another evolution in the élevage is that the Brézé now spends two winters in barrel, followed by six months in tank, recognising both the potency and coiled energy gifted by its terroirs.