2023 Etienne Bodet Graippeaux Saumur Blanc

Etienne Bodet spent 2021 to 2023 on the winemaking team at Clos Rougeard, responsible for two of its vintages, before going out on his own. This is the second release of his first white, and it does not read like a young grower finding his feet. One parcel of Chenin Blanc planted in 1953 at Ternay, on Turonian tuffeau and sandy glauconite over calcareous sandstone.

The making is the slow kind. Whole-bunch pressed with only the heart of the pressings kept, fermented on its own yeasts in barrel, then around twenty-two months on lees in casks mainly of four hundred litres. No sulphur at all during élevage, under 20mg/L total at bottling, then another year in bottle before he lets it go. That is three years from picking to shelf for a Saumur Blanc, which tells you how he rates it.

Tasting note

Pale yellow with golden lights. The nose runs to white flowers, pear, ripe apple and quince, with the honey, warm bread and gunflint that long lees ageing gives Chenin, and a herbal top note of tarragon, anise and something Chartreuse-like. The palate has a dense, textured attack over chalky minerality and real saline tension, finishing long on almond, wet chalk and ripe yellow fruit. Intense but restrained, and built for the cellar.