Saumur Breeze Sale 1-11-24

 
By many counts, the Loire Valley is France’s most diverse region for wine, home to a plethora of winemaking styles, a wide range of grape varieties, and a multitude of terroirs. Within the Valley is the appellation of Saumur, which encapsulates Saumur-Champigny and the famous communes of Brézé and Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg. Here Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc rule, offering up aromatic wines of great finesse. Some of the greatest estates in the area are pioneers of biodynamics and sustainable farming, and their wines express the same thoughtfulness and care seen in the vineyards.
 
Our sale features five producers: Domaine des Closiers, Chateau Yvonne, Domaine Guiberteau, 
Thierry Germain, and Arnaud Lambert.
 
Domaine des Closiers is a historic estate near the center of the Saumur-Champigny appellation in Parnay. Purchased in 2018 by enologist Anatole de la Brosse, who, along with Nady Foucault of Clos Rougeard, crafts some of the finest wines in the region.
 
Chateau Yvonne is a small estate revitalized in 1997. Today, it is farmed organically and biodynamically by Matthieu Vallée. Everything is done manually in the vineyard and with as little intervention as possible in the winery, with native yeast fermentation, minimal SO2, and bottling unfunded and unfiltered. 
 
Domaine Guiberteau’s wines are pure, pungently wonderful expressions of Chenin and Cab Franc, somehow managing to be wild and alive while remaining crystal clear in their delivery. From the entry level Saumur Rouge (quite likely the best introductory wine you’ll find) to the pinnacle of his Saumur Blanc Brézé, the purity of the wines is remarkable. We can only hope Domaine Guiberteau doesn’t shoot out of reach.
 
When a winemaker starts generating the amount of charge that Romain Guiberteau has built in such a short amount of time, our ears perk up, and we take notice. Consider that Dani Foucault of Clos Rougeard took so much interest in Romain that he regularly insisted that visitors also go to Guiberteau to taste. Young Romain came back from an uninspired law career to take over the farming of his family’s 14.5 hectares. The prize of this acreage was 7 hectares on a hill by the name of Brézé, considered by some as the best terroir in the entire Loire. The wines are pure, pungently wonderful expressions of the two grapes, somehow managing to be wild and alive while remaining crystal clear in their delivery. From the entry level Saumur Rouge (quite likely the best introductory wine you’ll find) to the pinnacle of his Saumur Blanc Brézé, the purity of the wines is remarkable.
 
Thierry Germain is a heralded producer first introduced to the US by importer Kermit Lynch. Championing biodynamic farming practices, eschewing new oak and long élevage in large barrels, these are transparent and classically-styled wines.
 
Arnaud Lambert is a fan favorite of the shop, offering delicious wines at highly affordable price points. Based in Brézé, one of Saumur’s most coveted neighborhoods, Lambert crafts wines from here, where the wines are full of minerals, and Saint-Cyr-En-Bourg, which offers up more powerful and opulent wines. Lambert is a master at letting the terroir shine through. The whites have elegance, texture and poise that puts them at home with any dry Chenin from the region, at significant discounts to big names like Clos Rougeard, while the reds offer that classic combination of Saumur weight and polish.
 
We find it hard to pick favorites among these elite wineries, so we encourage you to mix and match to explore the full range.
 
Shop our offers in stock and on sale below or visit our webstore to secure your discount!
 
In Stock and On Sale Now:
 
Chateau Yvonne Saumur Blanc 2020 750ml Displayed Price: $49, that’s $46.55 at 5% off and $44.10 at 10% off, 10 bottles in stock now
Importer note “The Yvonne Blanc was one of the 2 original cuvées produced at the domaine. [Winemaker] Mathieu Vallée continued the same high-quality work in the vineyard and cellar, but drastically reduced the amount of new oak used for elevage [to 20%]. While most fans of Saumur Blanc know about Brézé, Yvonne Blanc will likely be the first introduction to the whites of La Côte, the exceptional tuffeau terroir along the Loire River in Parnay.”
VinopolNote: Organically farmed Chenin Blanc from a formerly abandoned vineyard revitalized in 1997. Vines are 5- to 80-years old.
 
Chateau Yvonne Saumur-Champigny Rouge 2020 750ml Displayed Price: $39, that’s $37.05 at 5% off and $35.10 at 10% off, 6 bottles in stock now
Importer note “Yvonne Rouge is the original red wine produced at the domaine from the exceptional terroir around Parnay known as “La Côte”. It’s one of the finest Cabernet Francs from the Loire, and has the seemingly indefinite ageing potential of all truly great wines. Certainly enjoyable on release, it will greatly benefit from 3-5 years in the cellar, and continue to improve for many more.”
VinopolNote: Organically farmed Cabernet Franc from a formerly abandoned vineyard revitalized in 1997. Vines were planted between the 1940s and 2010s.
 
Domaine des Closiers Saumur-Champigny ‘Les Closiers’ 2020 750ml Displayed Price: $33, that’s $31.35 at 5% off and $29.70 at 10% off, 8 bottles in stock now
John Gilman 92 points “Anatole de la Brosse purchased this estate in 2018 and has Nady Foucault as one of his consultants! Monsieur de la Brosse’s first vintage at Domaine des Closiers was the following year of 2019. Monsieur de la Brosse’s les Closiers bottling is his entry level wine, aged in tank for six to eight months prior to bottling and crafted to be more immediately accessible than his other two red wine cuvées, les Coudraies and les Trezelliêres. The combination of the extremely high quality of the wines here and Nady Foucault’s participation on a consulting basis have quickly given the estate the moniker of the “next Clos Rougeard”. The 2020 les Closiers bottling comes in at an even thirteen percent octane in this warm summer and offers up a beautifully refined nose of red and black cherries, tobacco leaf, chalky soil tones, cigar ash and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and seamlessly balanced, with a good core, fine transparency and grip and a long, moderately tannic and complex finish. This is a lovely bottle that is approachable out of the blocks, but really deserves at least a few years’ worth of bottle age to allow its secondary layers of complexity to emerge. 92+”
Wine Advocate 92 points “The 2020 Saumur Champigny Les Closiers comes from Cabernet Franc plots cultivated on the limestone hillsides of Parnay. Vinified and matured in stainless steel vats, the Closiers reveals an intense but pure and refreshing bouquet of perfectly ripe red and dark fruits such as elderberries, blackcurrant, blueberries and blackberries as well as mulberries. Generous and gentle on the palate, this is a fruit-intense, very charming and juicy, wonderfully floral and delicate red with perfect ripeness but the lightness and finesse of a Saumur Champigny. The finish is pure and fleshy and reveals fine and stimulating tannins. It’s impossible not to love this 2020 that was macerated for a month and then aged in vats for approximately 10 months. Nothing added here apart from small quantities of sulfur dioxide.”
 
“This kind of winemaking isn’t taught in school … Cabernet Franc with this expression – so dynamic, bursting with aromatics, and in the mouth, it’s explosive … I haven’t had a Saumur-Champigny like this in 10 years.” -Michel Bettane & Thierry Desseauve, as reported by Rare Wine Co.
 
Domaine des Closiers Saumur-Champigny ‘Les Closiers’ 2021 750ml Displayed Price: $36, that’s $34.20 at 5% off and $32.40 at 10% off, 20 bottles in stock now
John Gilman 93 points “The 2021 Saumur-Champigny “les Closiers” from Domaine des Closiers is the winery’s basic level bottling, seeing no oak aging and being raised for six to eight months in stainless steel tank. Nevertheless, the bouquet of the 2021 is stunning, soaring from the glass in a black fruity blaze of dark berries, cassis, tree bark, cigar ash, dark soil tones and a distinctly smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, fullbodied, focused and complex, with a beautiful core of black fruit, fine soil signature and grip, ripe, suave tannins and a long, vibrant and impeccably balanced finish. This is a stunning value! 2023-2050+.”
 
Domaine des Closiers Saumur-Champigny ‘Les Coudraies’ 2020 750ml Displayed Price: $44.50, that’s $42.28 at 5% off and $40.05 at 10% off, 11 bottles in stock now
John Gilman 95 points “The Saumur-Champigny “les Coudraies” is one of the estate’s single vineyard wines, made from a selection of the best parcels in this hillside vineyard. The wine is aged in mostly older casks for one year prior to bottling. The 2020 les Coudraies comes in at fourteen percent octane and offers up a simply gorgeous bouquet of red and black cherries, cigar wrapper, a touch of tree bark, a complex base of soil tones, juniper berry, a touch of cedar and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and very elegant in profile, with a rock solid core of fruit, firm, buried tannins, excellent focus and grip and a long, complex and very, very promising finish. This is a great bottle of Saumur-Champigny in the making!”
Wine Advocate 93 points “Vinified in stainless steel tanks and then aged in barrels, the 2020 Saumur Champigny Les Coudraies comes from the low-yielding limestone slopes of Parnay that were cropped at 40 hectoliters per hectare that year. Vinified in stainless steel tanks and then aged in barrels, the Coudraies offers a deep and concentrated, spicy and fruity bouquet of dark fruits such as sour cherries and blackcurrant along with mint and dark chocolate. Full-bodied, round and intense on the palate, this is a substantial, dense and generous but structured Cabernet with very intense and juicy fruit, good mineral freshness, spicy tannins and a long and intense, very promising finish that is still a little astringent.”
 
Domaine des Closiers Saumur-Champigny ‘Les Trezellières’ 2019 750ml Displayed Price: $108.50, that’s $103.08 at 5% off and $97.65 at 10% off, 3 bottles in stock now
John Gilman 96 points “This is my first taste of Domaine des Closiers top bottling, les Trezellières, which is made from a parcel of old vines and given fully two years aging in barrel, with somewhere between ten and twenty percent of the casks new. The 2019 les Trezellières is beautifully deep and refined aromatically, delivering scents of black cherries, cassis, Cuban cigar wrapper, a very complex base of soil, a touch of Cheval Blanc-like menthol, a gentle dollop of tree bark, cedar and a topnote of cigar smoke. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, elegant and rock solid at the core, with great focus and complex, superb soil undertow, fine grained tannins and a very long, pure and classy finish. The small percentage of new oak gives this wine more refinement than the les Coudraies bottling, but because it is no more than twenty percent new oak. The wood influence is far more subtle out of the blocks than in Clos Rougeard’s Le Bourg bottling, which is the closest comparison I can think of for this brilliant young Saumur-Champigny. Give this beautiful wine plenty of time in the cellar to properly resolve its tannins and completely blossom! 2031-2085”
 
Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Brézé Blanc 2017 750ml Displayed Price: $99, that’s $94.05 at 5% off and $89.10 at 10% off, 22 bottles in stock now
Stephan Reinhardt-Wine Advocate 93 points “From a 1.2 hectare-vineyard planted in 1933 and 1952 on sand and clay soils topping the softer tuff limestone bedrock, the 2017 Saumur Brézé was aged on fine lees for 18 months in barrels (new and one to two years old) and displays a golden-yellow color along with a deep, pure and intense, floral bouquet of crushed stones, iodine, blossom honey, tuff and ripe fruits such as mirabelles and pears—very complex and fascinating in its seamless composition. On the palate, this is an intense yet pure, fresh and salty, utterly mineral and tightly structured Chenin with fine tannins and a long, intense and well-concentrated finish. A gorgeous wine that already drinks well today, but it can be aged for many years. 13% alcohol. Tasted in May 2021.”
 
Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Rouge 2019 750ml Displayed Price: $39, that’s $37.05 at 5% off and $35.10 at 10% off, 36+ bottles in stock now
Stephan Reinhardt-Wine Advocate 91 points “From three parcels with vines planted between 1955 and 1957 on silt and sand topsoil covering softer limestone bedrock. the 2019 Saumur Rouge is pure Cabernet Franc naturally fermented in tank for six months. The 2019 opens with a pure and refreshing as well as spicy/floral nose with dark fruit and fresh lemon aromas as well as stony notes and a nice reduction. Wonderfully untamed. On the palate, this is a medium-bodied, fresh and silky-textured Saumur with a stimulating salty, round and fruity finish. At this young age, charm is not its greatest talent, but with bottle age, this will be a terrific Saumur rouge for many dishes and opportunities. I like this tight and traditional, straightforward style that might be a bit unpleasant at this early stage but will reward those with patience. 13.5% alcohol”
 
Thierry Germain Domaine des Roches Neuves Saumur Blanc Clos de l’Echelier 2015 750ml Displayed Price: $79, that’s $75.05 at 5% off and $71.10 at 10% off, 1 bottle in stock now
Stephan Reinhardt-Wine Advocate 94 points “With fascinating purity and tightly woven mineral freshness, Thierry Germain’s biodynamic, cherry-colored 2015 Saumur Champigny Clos de l’Échelier offers ripe, intense yet pure, fresh and aromatic cherry fruit along with floral, graphite and toasty oak aromas (fermented in a wooden Stockinger cuve). Sourced from a clos with a 50-centimeter layer of sandy loam on calcareous rocks, this is a pure, fresh and elegant, tightly structured and grippy Cabernet from vines almost 35 years old. Still very young, lean and nervous but tensioned, fresh and promising. I’d keep it in my cellar for at least another three years. “
Importer note “100% Chenin Blanc from 70 year old vines. Soil is sand, clay, and Turonien Superieur limestone.”
VinopolNote: Only 100 or so cases of this are made in a given year, from vines that are 70 years old. 100% Chenin Blanc grown on a mix of sand, clay and limestone, this wine has all of the power you’d hope for out of dry Chenin, with a lushness that you don’t find in places like Savennières. Expect rich fruit with a hint of smokiness and lemon-blossom aromas. Really a stunner.
 
Arnaud Lambert Saumur Brézé Blanc Clos de Midi 2022 750ml Displayed Price: $23.50, that’s $22.33 at 5% off and $21.15 at 10% off, 10 bottles in stock now
No reviews for the 2022 vintage. Recent review provided for reference.
Wine Spectator 93 points “This offers an expressive mix of yellow apple, persimmon and Meyer lemon flavors infused with light notes of hazelnut and hints of smoke. The acidity is electric, giving this plenty of verve and carrying all the elements to the long and seductive, lightly floral finish. Best from 2022 through 2034.”
 
Arnaud Lambert Saumur Brézé Rouge Clos Mazurique 2021 750ml Displayed Price: $21.90, that’s $20.81 at 5% off and $19.71 at 10% off, 6 bottles in stock now
Importer Note “The single vineyard wines from Arnaud Lambert get farmed with biodynamic techniques and are certified organic. This single vineyard has sandy topsoils, creating a fresher aromatic Cabernet Franc. The subsoil is the classic Saumur Turonian limestone, giving the wine its signature mineral structure. The 2021 vintage is back to being mostly destemmed, contrary to a trial in 2020 with some whole cluster, and is fermented with native yeast. The 2021 in my opinion is one of the most balanced vintages of late: good definition of fruit with some black currant and wild strawberries, a subtle hint of tobacco and pimenton paprika. Texturally the wine is fresh and lifted with just the perfect amount of Brézé textural tannins to show terroir and give the wine a dynamic food pairing quality. This is a wine for Spring food.”
 
Arnaud Lambert Saumur Brézé Rouge Clos Tue-Loup 2019 750ml Displayed Price: $28, that’s $26.60 at 5% off and $25.20 at 10% off, 3 bottles in stock now
VinopolNote: 100% Cabernet Franc from 35 year-old vines grown on sand and limestone soils. Aged for 12 months in barrels and concrete eggs.
 
Arnaud Lambert Saumur Brézé Rouge Clos Tue-Loup 2020 750ml Displayed Price: $31.90, that’s $30.31 at 5% off and $28.71 at 10% off, 11 bottles in stock now
VinopolNote: 100% Cabernet Franc from 35-year-old vines grown on sand and limestone soils. Aged for 12 months in barrels and concrete eggs.
 
Arnaud Lambert Saumur Blanc La Coulee de Saint-Cyr 2020 750ml Displayed Price: $41.90, that’s $39.81 at 5% off and $37.71 at 10% off, 23 bottles in stock now
No review available for the 2020 vintage. 2018 review provided for reference.
Wine Advocate 93 points “From an east-facing 1.7-hectare plot (Les Perriéres) on top of the SCB hill, the 2018 Saumur Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg Coulée de St-Cyr opens with a deep, pure, yet intense and complex bouquet of ripe fruits intertwined with notes of crushed limestone and popcorn. Pure, refined and salty on the palate, this is a full-bodied, quite rich yet tight, fresh and persistently salty Chenin with fine yet sustainable tannins and a lot of nervy lime juice, salt and tension. This is a fantastic Chenin from limestone terroir (topped with a 50-centimeter layer of clay and salt) that is normally used for Cabernet Franc. I tasted the wine from the same bottle over 14 days, and I’d say the wine got finer and finer.”
 
Arnaud Lambert Saumur Champigny Terres Rouges Lieu-Dit 2021 750ml Displayed Price: $24, that’s $22.80 at 5% off and $21.60 at 10% off, 21 bottles in stock now
VinopolNote: 100% Cabernet Franc from 45-year-old vines grown on sand and limestone soils. Aged in stainless steel.