We're on the Loir here, not the Loire, about an hour south of the racing town of Le Mans. Jasnières is a tiny appellation with just 70ha declared, Domaine Gigou have 8 of those. Ludovic is using old vines grown on silex-flecked clay soils to produce outstanding and age-worthy Chenin Blanc.

If you need a reminder of what a ‘mineral’ wine tastes like, do give this wine a try. It’s made from Chenin Blanc, but it feels like it has found its way into the bottle via fissures in a rockface, over crumbled stone and through broken flint that was split with a pickaxe. Old vines here, averaging 70 years in age, from soils rich in silex. Barrel fermented then aged 50% in foudre and 50% in smaller format oak. Barrels vary in age from 2 to 6 years old. 12.5% alc. Drink now-2029.