Domaine Guiberteau, Saumur, Breze 2019 - 75cl
Brézé is a limestone hill in Saumur that used to supply the great houses of the Loire before anyone thought to bottle it under its own name. Romain Guiberteau is the grower who dragged it back into the light, and this is Chenin Blanc that argues its case hard.
The estate sits in Anjou-Saumur, working Chenin on the chalky tuffeau limestone that defines Brézé. Topsoils of sand and clay sit over soft limestone bedrock, and it is that rock you taste. Guiberteau farms organically and works with a light hand in the cellar, letting the site do the talking. He is one of the reference points for dry Loire Chenin now, and the wines are built to age.
The 2019 pours a bright lemon-gold. The nose is precise and high-toned: apple, lemon, quince and pear, a curl of white flower, then chalk and a faint hazelnut note underneath. The palate is where Brézé shows its teeth, medium to full-bodied, tightly wound, driven by a saline, stony minerality that runs from front to back. Ripe pear fruit fleshes it out before a crisp, salty finish snaps it shut. There is real energy and tension here, the kind of Chenin that repays five to ten years in the cellar but already gives plenty if you decant it.
How to Serve
Serve at 10-12°C. A large glass helps a young, tightly coiled wine like this; a short decant does even more. Cold-fridge temperatures flatten the mineral detail.
Where to Drink It
Noble Rot, whose Loire list is close to definitive. Brat in Shoreditch, Chenin against the wood-fired turbot. The River Cafe for a Sunday lunch that can carry it.
Food Pairings
Roast chicken never lets it down. I also like it with a well-aged Comté, and it is genuinely good with grilled sole and a squeeze of lemon.
