Damien Laureau Savennieres Les Genets 2016
-
Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
From vineyards clustered around the Moulin de Beaupréau at the far northern edge of the appellation, Damien sources the fruit for his Savennière Les Genêts. This is a light sandy terroir of schist and phtanite making for a more approachable style of Savennière. It is aged in 400L French oak barrels for 12 months then 4-6 months in tank before bottling.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Mainly from aeolian deposits and silts on sandy schists, the 2016 Savennières Les Genêts opens with an intense, pure and elegant, wonderfully matured bouquet of ripe and healthy Chenin fruits, pear and quince aromas intertwined with schist and floral aromas. Full-bodied, very intense and powerful yet pure and crystalline as well as salty on the palate, this Chenin reveals a remarkable drama combined with finesse and vitality and a long and tensioned, firmly structured finish with refreshing acidity and lime bitters. This is a very long and complex Chenin whose tannins are well interwoven with the crystalline acidity and lingering salinity. This powerful and structured wine should be great with zander or pan-fried Saint Jacques scallops, as Damien suggests. Tasted May 2021.
Unquestionably one of the most diverse grape varieties, Chenin Blanc can do it all. It shines in every style from bone dry to unctuously sweet, oaked or unoaked, still or sparkling and even as the base for fortified wines and spirits. Perhaps Chenin Blanc’s greatest asset is its ever-present acidity, maintained even under warm growing conditions. Somm Secret—Landing in South Africa in the mid 1800s, today the country has double the acreage of Chenin Blanc planted compared to France. There is also a new wave of dedicated producers committed to restoring old Chenin vines.
Known for its delightful whites and sparkling Pétillant and Mousseux, made predominantly of Chenin blanc, Anjou has a temperate and dry maritime climate. The region's limited temperature variations are admiringly referred to locally as the “douceur angevine,” or “Anjou sweetness.” Fruit forward rosé and red wines from Cabernet Franc and Gamay merit Anjou its success within the Loire subregions.