I will always remember this wine, not for its special attributes, of which it has many, but because I had just taken a sip of the new vintage and was swirling it around my mouth in quiet contemplation, when Lucia announced that she was expecting a baby girl! I made a sort of squealing sound, widening my eyes to convey excited surprise and to buy time until I could swallow it, which I did as quickly as possible, before offering my congratulations, although I did let it linger for an extra second, noting the excellent minerality on the finish.

It’s an absolute beauty, sourced from various plots of Chenin Blanc around Saumur, with different top layers of soil (sand, clay, limestone), but all with volcanic tufa as their bedrock, bringing a real sense of earthy, pumice-laden minerality to the wine (if you like the white wines of Bernhard Huber, you will find a kinship here).

It spent a year in both new and old oak, and, unusually for a Loire white, underwent malolactic fermentation, to add complexity and to mollify the wine’s natural acidity. We found notes of struck rock, pear skin, kumquat, grapefruit and smoky, wispy cordite. It has a very ‘natural’ feel to it, as it’s as much about the soil as the fruit, but before you channel your inner Jay Rayner, it’s absolutely pristine clean. If your impression of ‘natural wine’ is cloudy cider, then this will recalibrate your bias by several orders of magnitude. 12% alc. Minimal use of SO2 only at bottling. Lightly filtered. Incidentally, their neighbours are none other than Clos Rougeard. Drink now-2029.

Press review:

Vinous (previous vintage): “The 2023 is an oaked style (aged in 40% new wood), almost Burgundian with toasty notes alongside reductive smoky bacon aromas. The team use lees to build texture in this light-bodied, finely-textured Chenin. It displays plenty of energy and citrus flavours. A little more concentration of fruit would be amazing, but the oak is of really nice quality.” 90 points