From: Anjou, Loire Valley, France
Varietal: Chenin Blanc
Taste: This wine casts a bright lemon-gold hue and classic Saumur Blanc aromas of Anjou pears, green pineapple, beeswax, and perfumed tuffeau soil. Showing superb cut and tension on the attack, the wine presents a taut mouthful of pear-driven Chenin fruit framed by yellow limestone minerals and electric acidity. Complex suggestions of quince, sweet cinnamon, fresh ginger, lanolin, chamomile, and honeycomb emerge on the wine’s long finish followed by a tactile dusting of salty, lip-coating limestone minerals. This is a gorgeous, ultra high-quality Chenin for a song.
Pairing: Pair it with freshwater fish dishes, aged chèvres, recipes featuring chanterelle mushrooms, and roast pheasant. Other beautiful pairings include Lobster Rolls, dim sum, smoked salmon, and fish and chips. We found a recipe by Melissa Clark for Baked Fish and Chips (there’s a video in NYT Cooking!) to share with you today, santé!
About. 2022 marks the first vintage of Arnaud Lambert’s Les Parcelles Chenin Blanc bottling (thus, 2023 is the second vintage of Les Parcelles), which came into being just as his contracts to farm the vineyard for his Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg Blanc bottling ended. This Chenin is sourced from a selection of parcels from small vineyards farmed by like-minded friends and neighbors. Responding to these new vineyard sources, Lambert shifted from the stainless steel vinification process typical for his previous Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg cuvée, opting to vinify this wine and mature it in neutral, used barrels to emphasize subtle textural components.
