2020 Francois Chidaine Les Argiles, Loire Valley

Most readers will already know that although this wine is grown in Vouvray, it is not permitted to bear that name because it ferments and matures across the river in Montlouis. It is therefore labelled Vin de France, a change in circumstance that has not bothered Chidaine’s clients one jot.

As always, this magnificent bottling is drawn from a series of clay-rich (argiles) Vouvray sites that surround the Clos Baudoin. These include L’Espagnole, La Chatterie, L’Homme, Les Reugnières and Le Haut Lieu (of Huet fame). Set away from the river, these sites are mostly populated with 40-year-old bush vines, which grow on deep, chalky clay over a limestone subsoil. All these vineyards are managed biodynamically and with regenerative agriculture. Les Argiles is hand-harvested with multiple passes through the vineyards. Fermentation occurs with indigenous yeasts and the wine ages on lees in 620-litre demi-muids for about 11 months.

The combination of a warm and dry vintage with Chidaine’s precise, old-school winemaking has conveyed a predictably top-flight Chenin Blanc. One of the more intense releases of this cuvée, it opens with a powerful surge of mint, white honey and orange citrus before a deeply floral palate loaded with flavour. It’s ripe and succulent with mouth-filling texture underpinned by its chalky frame, sappy acidity and a thunderclap of phenolic energy. This is flat-out gorgeous.