2020 Francois Chidaine Montlouis Rive Gauche, Loire Valley

The 2020 Rive Gauche is a seductive and attractive sweet wine. It is produced from fully botrytised fruit, hailing from three different parcels in Montlouis, and remains remarkably light on its feet despite its richness. While it is far too young, it has delightful componentry that will keep this evolving gracefully for at least two decades - and the rest.

95 points, Rebecca Gibb MW vinous.com

“It’s certainly liquoreux, but close to the relatively less-sweet moelleux side of liquoreux. Tangerine honey, lemon-marmalade cake, salted caramel with a citrus cusp. Scrumptious stuff! If you could make wine out of a candied-lemon-zest panettone with a creamy scoop of surprise dulce de leche tucked into the middle, this would be it. As I said before, scrumptious stuff. Even if it's painfully young.” 

17+/20 points, Tamlyn Currin, jancisrobinson.com

Chidaine's rare vins liquoreux are made exclusively from botrytised fruit, making them the richest and sweetest wines in the portfolio. Unlike in Vouvray, the conditions required to grow this rare style of Montlouis come around once in a blue moon. The last time we shipped this cuvée was from 2009, when it was called Les Lys. It is a multi-site blend from three vineyards that are picked over successive passes. It fermented with native yeasts and matured in demi-muid. The 2020 stopped fermenting with just over 100 g/L residual sugar, yet it remains a vibrant and wonderfully balanced wine. When called on, Chidaine is a master of this style; in short, it is a remarkably delicious, layered and complex wine, as the review above makes clear.