Loire Valley 2023 vintage report: White wines and the best new releases

Bone dry, with attractive, honeyed and vanilla notes, a vibrant, mouthfilling texture and a very long, precise and pure finish that shows light saline notes despite still being a little closed at the end, although this demonstrates its potential to evolve with further time in bottle. The south-facing Les Quarts (3.08ha) gave its name to the Quarts de Chaume, as the lords of the Haute Guerche, as tenants of the vineyards, paid the nuns of the Ronceray Abbey with the best quarter of their harvest. These vines were planted between 1987 and 1991 in loamy clays over schist. Grapes were picked on 17 September with a yield of 31hl/ha. Fermented and aged in barrels of 228 and 400 litres with an average age of five years for 14 months. Bottled 23 November 2021.

A bit of a heart-stopper, the latest Vouvray Sec release from Domaine Foreau has everything you could want: an intense, savoury, mineral nose and a softly honeyed, rounded palate. In the mouth the wine evolves, revealing its powerful, mineral depth and complexity. Deeply savoury on the finish, with light oak spice. This feels like an iron fist in a velvet glove, delivering delicious Chenin bitterness and a very long, juicy, lemon-mineral finish. Perfectly balanced, with 5g/L residual sugar. Unique and wonderful. Can be drunk now, but will easily last 20 years or more. Fermented and aged in old 300L barrels.

2020 was a ripe vintage, but Romain Guiberteau's Brézé is a restrained beauty with all the class of this top site. The nose is all smouldering smoke, toast and almonds, while the palate delivers an invigorating blast of mineral acidity coated with filigree strands of silken fruit – orange, tangerine, even ripe pineapple. But these are all tightly wound at present, with the tingling Brézé tension like a tightly pulled thread. This needs a couple of years to reveal its charms, which it surely will.

The 12ha Clos Le Grand Beaupréau is a special site at the highest point of the Savennières appellation, in the village of Epiré. The fruit for this wine comes from 2ha of the clos. Initially quite closed, this opens in the glass to reveal light floral, melon and mineral aromas. The palate combines the ripeness of 2022 with very high natural acidity (even though this is an early-ripening site, there was no malolactic fermentation in this wine). The style is highly mineral and taut, with a long, racy finish. Very much a savoury, terroir-influenced wine, that will benefit from decanting before drinking.

Fred Lailler's Melon de Bourgogne grows on black gabbro rock in the Muscadet cru of Gorges. His style complements the terroir: firm and uncompromising. This early-release wine shows rich, savoury fruit and spine-tingling acidity. It's bright and bitter, with flavours of the sea. This is an exciting wine – super-refreshing, but with substance and power – and all at 11% alcohol.

Antoine Gouffier's MCMLV is named for 1955, the year that this vineyard was planted. With zesty grapefruit on the nose, the palate also shows lemon citrus and nectarines, with fabulous freshness combined with smooth, mouthfilling texture. It manages to be both fleshy and light on its feet. Lovely, lovely fruit here, and stunning texture. The wine ages partly in wood and partly stainless steel. Effortlessly balanced.

This golden wine is the domaine's top cuvée. It has a chalky, mineral nose with light notes of cooked apple and pastry. The palate is rich, with a touch of sweetness that rounds out the dense, mineral fruit. The finish is long and honeyed, with a bitter twist. The Clos du Papillon vineyard is a southwest-facing site with schists, quartz and rhyolite soils. It gives a long-lived, rich and powerful wine with plenty of tension. The 15.5% alcohol is high, but the wine has sufficient concentration of fruit to take it. Certainly not a vin de piscine, this is more of a contemplation wine to enjoy on a winter's evening.

A generously aromatic nose, richly floral with notes of nectarine, ripe peaches and delicate linden flowers. The rounded palate has a lovely blend of fruit sweetness and slightly spiky acidity. From old vines, planted in 1968, this has effortless balance. Mouthwateringly juicy and smooth-textured, this is a clear-fruited, bright, refreshing and elegant wine with real character.

The 2020 Château-Thébaud has a complex, stony, mineral, saline nose. The palate is lemon-fresh, extremely mineral, with mouthwatering, savoury fruit and excellent concentration. It has an airy quality to it, but it gains complexity in the mouth, finishing on a saline, stony finish. Ripe but wholly savoury, this wine comes from 70-year-old vines harvested by hand. It spends 36 months on lees with regular batonnage. Still one of the bargains of the wine world.

Grown on limestone soils studded with black flint, this is a fine wine with lovely concentration, restrained yet brimming with fruit and vivacity. Another made-for-pleasure wine from Julien Pinon, with beautiful linden blossom aromas, silken texture and light, chalky tannins on the savoury finish. It's delicious now, but has everything it needs to age, too.

The 2022 Les Romains comes from 70-year-old vines that grow on flint and limestone soils in the heart of Sancerre. The nose offers ripe peaches and floral notes, as well as fresh lime and a light grassiness. The palate is light, delicate and savoury, with zesty, stony fruit and a lightly bitter finish that only adds to its appeal. The acidity is moderate but balanced. A very elegant, fine-textured and surprisingly delicate wine, with a lingering finish.

The super-ripe Denisottes from Claude Riffault is a powerful wine with real presence. The fruit has an almost tropical feel to it, but the tingling mineral acidity at its core tells you this is from a fine site of classic Kimmeridgian marls in Sancerre. As it warms in the glass, the stony backbone begins to come through more strongly, building to a seamless, lengthy finish. Big, intense and fresh, this is a beautifully balanced wine that was both fermented and aged a year in old oak.

A highly ambrosial nose precedes a palate that is rounded and fresh, with pure, creamy, lemon-butter fruit. Aged for a few years before release, this is now a hugely appealing and harmonious wine, which initially feels loosely structured but finishes with a firm, mineral grip. Everything is in place in this highly approachable wine. Pristine, elegant and sure of itself. Unusually for the appellation, the wine is unoaked and sealed with a screwcap. Although the wine is ready to drink now, it could benefit from decanting to open it up.

A perfect example of a Sancerre that tastes of place rather than grape variety, coming from the limestone soils of Bué. Not particularly aromatic, it is more mineral than anything else, with a nebulous complexity that builds in the mouth. The savoury palate expands to reveal juicy fruit with nuances of ripe yellow peaches and linden flowers. An intriguing wine that invites a second sip. It feels young but is so good right now.

Youthfully fresh, honeyed aromas lead into a deliciously silky, fine-textured palate with understated mineral complexity. The fruit is juicy and fresh, with honeysuckle and lanolin notes complementing the balanced 5g/L of residual sugar. Firm acidity and savoury, mineral length suggest a long life ahead.

Les Grands Quarterons from Julien Braud has a savoury, subtle and complex nose. The palate is long and textural, with a lovely depth of salty, umami fruit. Grown on gabbro soils that give a more upright style of Muscadet, this has a wonderful balance that feels entirely natural. The wine spends 14 months ageing on lees in underground vats lined with glass tiles.

The wine has a golden colour and citrusy nose with perfumed lemon sherbet. The palate is rich and round, only just dry with 3g/L residual sugar and an almost pineapple sweetness to the bright fruit. Clean and crisp, with a delicious freshness and chalky minerality. Wonderful balance and elegance, with the lightness of texture that Chenin achieves in Montlouis. The finish is savoury and saline. Highly drinkable. The wine undergoes long fermentation in 600L old oak before resting on the lees in the same vessels, for around six months more.

Lifted and highly expressive nose of white flowers and acacia honey. Totally dry palate, but with such sweet fruit, balanced by lemony acidity. Just a delicious wine, made for pleasure. Fruit comes from a cooler part of the Vouvray appellation, grown on soils with a high percentage of clay. Fermented and aged in large, old oak.

D'Antan translates to 'from yesteryear', referring to the winemaking. This has an inviting buttery and vanilla-scented nose from fermentation in oak, of which one-third was new. The palate has Sauvignon flavours of lime and grass, with ripe gooseberry on the finish. Satisfyingly smooth, the wine is fleshy but balanced, with no excess of oak. There is power and minerality here, behind a deceptively soft package of peaches, mango and vanilla oak. The blend of a warm vintage and warm, flinty soils has resulted in this forward, generous wine that is hugely enjoyable.

From 80-year-old vines, this wine has mouthwatering aromas of citrus, mineral, fennel and a touch of smoke, followed by a palate of tangerine and confit lemon. Quite restrained in style, with firm acid tension reining in the juicy fruit. The trick with this wine is not to serve it too cold. The domaine recommends serving at 10-12 degrees, plus two hours in a decanter. This is good advice, and a reminder of the importance of temperature to enjoying wine generally. At a warmer temperature, one can better appreciate the fragrant, ripe fruit and airy lightness – a style of Chenin that Montlouis can do better than anywhere.

A quietly smoky, flinty nose precedes an intense palate dominated by mouthwatering sweet fruit, with oranges, elderflower and linden notes. Slightly tropical (an effect of the warm vintage), but highly mineral, too. The flowing texture leads to a long, flinty finish. This feels like a bigger wine than it is, at only 12% alcohol. From the exceptional site of a former flint quarry, planted by the Redde brothers 10 years ago at a density of 10,000 plants/ha. The wine aged for 14 months in older oak on fine lees. Delicious and complex.

Ronceray comes from vines on the hill of Chaume, historically better known for its sweet wines. It is now the source of notable dry wines such as this. From 45-year-old vines, the wine has a smoky intensity on the nose and a round, smoky, mealy palate that combines power and tension. There is lovely ripe, honeyed fruit here, but the chiselled structure is pure Anjou Chenin on schist soils. The finish is mineral and concentrated, with lightly grainy tannins and spice. Aged in wood and amphorae for a year, this is a lot of wine for your money. Fabulous.

From 60-year-old vines growing around the village of St-Cyr-en-Bourg, this Saumur white is one of the best. The powerful fruit of 2022 is well suited to oak ageing; it was matured half in small barrels and half in larger oak for 12 months. It's a rich wine but remains bright and representative of its place. There is no malolactic fermentation here, and the wine has lovely brightness and energy. The finish is long, mineral and quite delicious.

From vines in the premium Saumur commune of Brézé, this is a typically mineral and high-acid wine. The nose is of honey and lemon sherbert, but the palate is more savoury, with vertical structure and saline freshness. Fermented in large and small oak, the wood is present but it doesn't overpower the wine, which has an airy feel to it despite the 13.5% alcohol. Fruit was sourced from low-yielding old vines. The absence of either lees influence or malolactic fermentation means that the wine has retained its upright character.

Quite an exotic wine, with jasmine aromas. The palate is rich and silky, with a sensuous texture. This is more floral than fruity, but it works. Weighty, textured, powerful and serious, this is far from a light, quaffing Sauvignon. It needs food. This shows the rounder side of Sauvignon Blanc from Reuilly, a little south of Sancerre, on similar soils. There is no oak here, but the pre-fermentation maceration on skins and six months of ageing on fine lees add to the texture, weight and interest of this wine.

The Terre de Pierre has a lightly floral nose that precedes a surprisingly rich and ripe palate with apricot fruit and diesel notes. The vines for this cuvée grow on the Butte de la Roche, the earliest-ripening site in the Muscadet Sèvre et Maine appellation. Ageing is partly in sandstone amphorae. The wine flows smoothly in the mouth and finishes on a characteristically bitter twist.

This fragrant wine has aromas of white flowers, nettles, white pepper and a touch of smokiness. The mouth initially feels smooth, until the zingy acidity explodes onto the palate with a delicious salinity. Bright, juicy and open, with yellow peach and apricot flavours all balanced by the freshness. Generous, bright and expressive, with pure fruit and a sense of joie de vivre. This is the domaine's first certified biodynamic vintage.

Luminance opens like a basket of stone fruits on the nose. The palate is mineral and chalky, with some confit lemon, ripe but also very fresh. This wine is wholly fermented and aged in concrete, which makes the concentrated and pristine fruit stand out. But the finish has a mildly nettle bite, contrasting with the super-ripe fruit. From a single hectare of low-yielding vines overlooking the Loire River.

A lifted, inviting citrussy nose introduces a pure, bright, clear-fruited wine with distinct salty notes. Bracing as a breath of sea air, this is a classic Muscadet that offers great value. Perfect early-drinking oyster wine made in the traditional style by a talented young vigneron. The grapes grow on gneiss soils and are harvested by hand. The wine is aged on lees for a short time in underground glass-lined concrete tanks.

From the firm, volcanic gabbro soils of Muscadet comes this mineral and textured wine from master vigneron Vincent Caillé. Aged for less than a year on its lees, it is nevertheless full of flavour, with a mineral yeastiness and smooth texture. Fully savoury, with a light bitterness on the finish, this is already very together. Cracking wine.

Classical, restrained Vouvray expression of honeyed lanolin fruit. The palate shows balanced fruit, with white flowers, thyme honey and the slightest touch of sweetness (4.8g/L). The fruit for this wine comes from a single hectare of 80-year-old, low-yielding hand-picked vines; matured 14 months in 500L old oak.

La Clef du Récit offers a classic expression of Loire Sauvignon Blanc. Bright aromas of nettle and passion fruit persist to the palate, which is clean, crisp and bright, with a sweetly fruity finish. Excellent summer wine, with lovely balance and good fruit concentration.

One of the rewards of the 2021 vintage, for those who had the nerve to hang on, was a tiny crop of fabulous botrytised sweet wines. Here is one such treasure. It displays pure, clear aromas of honey, tangerine peel and nectarines. On the palate it has a silky texture and unctuous mouthfeel, with gorgeous concentration and perfect balance. It is very sweet (147g/L) but perfectly crisp and refreshing. There is a beautiful quality of botrytis here, and this bitterness, combined with the natural bitterness of Chenin grown on this special schist site, is just a perfect combination. A honeyed essence, with a refreshing twist of bitter lemon peel on the finish. Made from the fruit of 60-year-old vines, fermented in oak barriques, 50% new.

This stylish Coteaux du Layon comes from vines planted in 1976 on schist and quartz. It has rich, apricot aromas with caramel back notes. The palate is silky, with light, attractive bitterness over tangerine, apricot and nectarine fruit. Lovely freshness despite the feeling of weight from the 120g/L of sweetness. Luscious fruit and a bright, lemon-fresh finish, this is balanced and delicious – and a bargain. It can easily keep, but there's no good reason not to open it now.

2021 was not an easy vintage, but it has produced wines of a classically elegant Loire style. This is a lovely, precise and understated example. It has light, lemony, almond aromas and a cleansing freshness on the palate, finishing with a tang of minerality – a typically airy style of Chenin from the Anjou blanc limestone soils.