2018 Francois Chidaine Les Argiles, Loire Valley

The 2018 Montlouis Les Argiles is bright, finely cut and remarkably nuanced. White orchard fruit, chalk, mint and white pepper give the Argiles a striking aromatic upper register. The Argiles, which emerges from clay-rich soils, impresses more with energy than the breadth I expected. Perhaps that will develop in bottle. This chiseled, finely-cut Chenin has a ton to offer. Bright saline notes punctuate the finish.

94 points Antonio Galloni vinous.com

As always, this sublime bottling is drawn from a series of clay-rich Vouvray sites (argiles=clay) that surround the Clos Baudoin. These include l’Espagnole, la Chatterie, l’Homme and la Reugnières and, le Haut Lieu—the same site of Huet fame. Set away from the river, these sites are mostly populated with 40-year-old bush vines grown on deep, chalky clay over a subsoil of limestone. The fruit was hand-harvested with multiple passes through the vineyards. Fermentation occurred with indigenous yeasts, and aging was on lees in wooden barrels (demi-muids) of 600-litre capacity for around 11 months.

Although this wine is 100% Vouvray it is not permitted to be labelled as such because it is fermented and aged across the river in Montlouis. The AOC law (in a section that has historically been ignored) states that if a wine is to be labelled Vouvray, it must be matured within the boundaries of Vouvray itself. For some reason the French authorities have now started cracking down on this (when in the past it was typically ignored) and so Chidaine, whose cellars are in nearby Montlouis, is forced to drop the use of the Vouvray AOC from his labels. No matter, the vineyard name, the region (even though no longer listed on the label) and the quality of the wine remains!

The fruit for the 2018 Argiles was hand-harvested with multiple passes through the vineyards. Fermentation occurred with indigenous yeasts, and aging was on lees in wooden barrels (demi-muids) of 600-litre capacity for around 11 months.