Anjou Chenin Blanc: A long-awaited renaissance and 20 wines rated

If the name Anjou doesn’t ring any bells, it’s probably because until recently, there has not been very much that’s Decanter-worthy to talk about.

This productive Loire region is known more for its inexpensive semi-sweet rosés than anything else. ‘People expect high-volume, standardised wine from Anjou,’ says winemaker Antoine Pouponneau of Grange Saint-Sauveur, who opts to produce his (excellent) Anjou wines under the humble Vin de France label.

But things have not always been this way…

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 20 Chenin Blancs from Anjou’s diverse soils

Anjou is widely considered to be the birthplace of Chenin Blanc, and the area was known for the calibre of its wines, both sweet and dry, made from this grape. It was so highly regarded, in fact, that Chenin was virtually the only grape planted – and it claimed all the best terroirs.

Even though Chenin’s history was overwritten throughout the 20th century to make way for more fashionable reds and rosés, the good news is that today this rich vinous heritage is being reclaimed. And it is dry Chenin that is leading the renaissance.

Two parts of a whole

Anjou’s vineyards lie mostly to the south of the Loire between the riverside towns of Angers and Saumur.

The region is the meeting place of geological eras hundreds of millions of years apart, which means that there is a vast diversity of soils and rocks to excite winemakers and geologists alike. For the more geologically challenged among us, these complexities can be helpfully simplified by classifying the soils according to their basic colour: dark or light.

These two divide the region more or less vertically down the middle (see map), with the dark soils to the west and paler ones to the east. The darker, more acidic soils, born from ancient volcanic and metamorphic rocks of the Armorican massif, tend to yield powerful wines that have savoury, mineral, saline flavours and often a trace of bitterness on the finish.

Wines from the appellations Savennières and Anjou are found in this part of the region. Further to the east, the paler soils are from the younger, sedimentary rocks of the Paris basin. Here, in the Saumur appellation, grapes grow on limestone, notably the pale tuffeau that was extensively quarried to build the many castles and homes found around the Loire valley. These soils give finely textured wines of bright fruit and crystalline acidity.

Comparing the styles of Chenin from these two terroirs, Thierry Germain of Domaine des Roches Neuves in Saumur, says: ‘The wines are worlds apart; it’s almost like tasting two separate varieties.’

Outside influence

Some of the most thrilling dry Chenins to emerge in the last few years have come from the catch-all appellation of Anjou. Many of these wines come from the valley of the Layon, a small tributary of the Loire that runs along the fault line that separates the Armorican massif and the Paris basin.

These rocky slopes are traditionally known for their sweet wines, such as those from the appellations Quarts de Chaume and Coteaux du Layon. The climate is mild and dry, so the grapes ripen fully, and in favourable vintages autumn mists rising from the river allow noble rot (Botrytis cinerea) to work its magic on the grapes. But, as any winemaker will tell you, making sweet wine is a risky and often uneconomic pursuit, so more and more growers are focusing on dry wines instead.

Since the wines are not sweet, they cannot be labelled with the names of the sweet appellations, just as dry white wines from Sauternes cannot be labelled as Sauternes. But these succulent and characterful dry whites offer a fascinating alternative perspective on these exceptional terroirs, and are becoming some of the most sought-after whites of the Loire.

The past decade has seen an influx of talent, bringing new life to the area – sometimes literally. Vanessa Cherruau acquired Château de Plaisance in 2019, and by the time the harvest came she found herself eight months’ pregnant. As luck would have it, her obliging daughter held off making an appearance until the crop was in. Cherruau is now president of the Chaume growers’ association and rarely seen not wearing her signature ‘Chaume Must Go On’ t-shirt, the slogan possibly inspired by the experience of her first vintage.

She farms 25ha to produce a range of wines heavily skewed towards terroir-specific, chiselled, mostly dry whites from the varied soils of the hill of Chaume. She says she’s aiming to produce ‘al dente Chenin: ripe and crunchy, not too golden’. She adds: ‘We pick with two buckets, separating out any berries with botrytis.’

Another notable newcomer is Ivan Massonnat of Domaine Belargus. In 2018, he purchased a selection of plots in Anjou, including a sizeable chunk of the Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru vineyard that had been languishing on the market for a decade.

He, too, saw the potential for dry wines here, although he recalls: ‘People thought I was crazy to make dry wine from the most expensive sweet wine terroir.’ Those people have probably long since eaten their words. His wines have rapidly become some of the most lauded and highly priced whites of the Loire, defying the belief of some of the older generation that no one is prepared to pay for good wine from Anjou.

‘We’ve broken the glass ceiling – from above,’ says Massonnat. ‘Compared to Burgundy, we are cheap.’ It’s easy to see how such wines would appeal to Burgundy lovers, with their generous, rounded fruit and persistent, mineral length.

The drier path

Among the longer-established producers of the Layon valley, young winemakers stepping into their parents’ shoes are also favouring dry wines over the more traditional sweet styles.

Fifth-generation winemaker Emmanuel Ogereau makes a range of consistently pure and seemingly effortless wines – though he is quick to point out that it’s not that easy: ‘Aromatically, Chenin is very shy here. I’m focused on mouth perception – texture, balance and terroir character,’ he says.

To the north of the Layon vineyards, the tiny village of Savennières, surrounded by vines, is perfectly situated on the north bank of the Loire. The gentle, oceanic climate, southerly exposure and steep, stony slopes have made it a natural choice for wine-growing for centuries.

Some of the sites – the micro-appellations of Roche aux Moines and Coulée de Serrant – have been producing wines since the 12th century. Here, Chenin is assertive in character, typically with silky texture, minerality and often the distinctive bitterness of the ‘Anjou noir’ dark soils.

Long known for the quality of its dry whites, there have nevertheless been radical changes here as well. Evelyne de Pontbriand, owner of Domaine du Closel and president of the Savennières appellation, explains: ‘Until 10 years ago, we all harvested the grapes late, with botrytis – just like the sweet Chenins. The wines were often harsh and tannic and needed 20 years before you could drink them.’ The past decade has seen a sea change in the way most wines are made. De Pontbriand says: ‘Now people harvest with no botrytis, and the wines are far more open and approachable.’

The Saumur vineyards suffered a similar fate to the rest of Anjou when much of the Chenin was replanted from the 1950s onwards. ‘All the great white terrains were pulled up to plant Cabernet Franc,’ recalls Germain at Roches Neuves. One such site is the now ironically named ‘Côte des Blancs’, which falls entirely within the red-only Saumur-Champigny appellation.

Return to favour

But even here, Chenin is making a comeback, with growers choosing to increase their plantings of the grape over Cabernet Franc and working to achieve cru recognition beyond the more basic Saumur Blanc appellation for this and other historic Chenin sites such as Brézé.

Winemakers emphasise terroir expression by separating production into site-specific cuvées. Growers such as Germain, Arnaud Lambert, Antoine Foucault (of Domaine du Collier) and Romain Guiberteau are producing consistently fine Chenins with the precision and chalky density that derive from these limestone-based soils.

Chenin Blanc still remains in a minority in Anjou, but the world is waking up to the superb quality of its wines and its untapped potential. Furthermore, the sustainability credentials of those leading the way are impressive: almost all of the wines recommended below are farmed organically and/or biodynamically, and producers anticipate a bright future for Anjou’s signature grape. Ivan Massonnat says: ‘To my mind, we will soon go back to a majority of Chenin. The hillsides will be reconquered. We are reconnecting with the greatness of the region.’

See notes and scores for 20 Chenin Blancs from Anjou’s diverse soils

Wines are ordered by Anjou blanc then Anjou noir soils, then by score.

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