2020 Anjou, Rouères, Domaine Belargus, Loire

Domaine Belargus

Domaine Belargus sits in the Loire Valley’s Anjou appellation. It is owner Ivan Massonat’s labour of love. His grandfather farmed a small vineyard where the family lived in Savoie, so wine was always familiar to Ivan. It was Burgundy that first stole Ivan’s heart, however – how the region could produce such varied expressions of one grape variety fascinated him.

Escaping the Parisian rat race, Ivan bought a house in the Loire and discovered the excellence of its, often overlooked, wines. He wanted to play a role in their promotion and have his own chance to explore terroir expressions of a single variety – in this case, Chenin Blanc. His first purchase was revered Loire winemaker, Jo Pithon’s Coteau des Treilles vineyard and Jo remains one of Ivan’s closest advisors at Domaine Belargus. Indigenous to the Coteau des Treilles, it is the blue Belargus butterfly which lends the domaine its name.

Soon after, Ivan acquired 10 hectares in the Quarts de Chaume – the Loire’s only Grand Cru appellation. The Grand Cru classification only applies to sweet wines, so Ivan’s Chenin Blanc vineyards here produce the domaine’s ambrosian sweet wines.

Domaine Belargus now has over 20 hectares of Chenin Blanc vineyards, producing 15 cuvées of dry and sweet wines. Already certified organic, it is also farmed biodynamically and in the process of acquiring full biodynamic certification.

Anjou-Saumur

Anjou-Saumur is a Mid-west Loire region most famous for the fine sweet Chenin Blanc wines of Bonnezeaux, Coteaux du Layon (including the exemplary - if tiny- Quarts de Chaume appellation) and Coteaux de l'Aubance. 

The bulk of the wines produced in the Anjou region comprise the bland `Rosé d'Anjou' (made from the Grolleau grape) and marginally better Cabernet d'Anjou; Some smoky dry Anjou Chenin Blanc also produced. 

The Saumur region's bread and butter is its Mousseux, while it also produces some dry Saumur Chenin (similar to Anjou's version) and some impressive Cabernet Franc, chalky dry thanks to the `tuffeau' soils.

Sauvignon Blanc

An important white grape in Bordeaux and the Loire Valley that has now found fame in New Zealand and now Chile. It thrives on the gravelly soils of Bordeaux and is blended with Sémillon to produce fresh, dry, crisp  Bordeaux Blancs, as well as more prestigious Cru Classé White Graves.

It is also blended with Sémillon, though in lower proportions, to produce the great sweet wines of Sauternes. It performs well in the Loire Valley and particularly on the well-drained chalky soils found in Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, where it produces bone dry, highly aromatic, racy wines, with grassy and sometimes smoky, gunflint-like nuances.

In New Zealand, Cloudy Bay in the 1980s began producing stunning Sauvignon Blanc wines with extraordinarily intense nettly, gooseberry, and asparagus fruit, that set Marlborough firmly on the world wine map. Today many producers are rivalling Cloudy Bay in terms of quality and Sauvignon Blanc is now New Zealand`s trademark grape.

It is now grown very successfully in Chile producing wines that are almost halfway between the Loire and New Zealand in terms of fruit character. After several false starts, many South African producers are now producing very good quality, rounded fruit-driven Sauvignon Blancs.