Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Blanc Breze 2017

If the Saumur Blanc is Guiberteau's introduction, the Brézé is where Romain makes his most uncompromising statement. The hill of Brézé is unlike any other terroir in the Loire — the Chenins here taste like none other, so violently assertive and brilliantly mineral that one importer compared the first encounter to discovering the Mosel for the first time. The legendary gourmet Curnonsky considered Brézé one of the grand crus of the Loire Valley. Guiberteau's holding of 1.07 hectares comes from two plots planted in 1933 and 1952, on sandy-clay soils over soft limestone bedrock — with roughly 70% of the vineyard having less than one metre of topsoil, a shallowness that drives roots deep and creates a far more citrusy, floral and mineral expression of Chenin. Fruit is hand harvested and sorted, whole-cluster pressed, fermented with ambient yeasts, malolactic conversion blocked, then aged for 15 to 18 months on fine lees in a combination of new and one- to two-year-old demi-muids and barrels, before being blended into tank for a further few months prior to bottling. 

Lemon oil, crushed mint, white flowers and hazelnuts introduce the Brézé — medium to full-bodied, satiny and rich, broad and enveloping with a fleshy core of fruit, long and ethereal, the finish underlined by delicate spice and caramel. Brézé is the holy grail of dry Chenin Blanc — blisteringly dry, steely yet unctuous, powerful yet restrained, intense yet delicate. Spiced pear, dandelion, chamomile, star anise, chalk and rainwater circle around a core of stony minerality that is uniquely and unmistakably of this hill.