Vanessa

9.5

Let’s talk about SAVENNIÈRES!!!! 📣📣

Savennières is a small but mighty appellation (AOC), located in the Anjou subregion of the Loire Valley, France and specializes in still, dry Chenin Blanc wines. 🇫🇷

Its growing environment is apt for producing concentrated and ripe fruit, translating into wines with strong aromatic and flavor intensity and higher alcohol potential. 💪🏻 It’s no wonder this appellation is all about Chenin Blanc; Chenin has naturally higher acidity, which can help lend structure and balance to the final wine. ⚖️ 🙌🏻🙌🏻

The combination of these factors sets the stage for winemakers to produce some truly powerful and age-worthy whites that can improve, gaining complexity (and softening) with some time in the bottle. 🤔 🧐 Savennières has a reputation as a more serious, cerebral wine that is meant to be savored, especially when paired with a creamy seafood dish like Coquilles Saint-Jacques! 😋 🥘

🌿This particular wine is the Nicolas Joly, Clos de la Coulée de Serrant AOC (2019) hailing from the prized enclave of Coulée de Serrant AOC (within Savennières AOC), owned exclusively and farmed biodynamically by the renowned Nicolas Joly.

This wine is surely capable of aging for decades but tonight we opted to sip this golden wine during the golden hour with unseasonably warm, summery temperatures here in Minnesota.

🐝 🍯 In the glass, we found concentrated, layered notes of honey, beeswax, yellow apple, ripe apricot, quince, chamomile, dried & crushed white rose petals, toasted almond, hazelnut, cinnamon stick, nutmeg, acrylic paint, wet stones, salted caramel, & butterscotch.

It has texture (and finish) for days and a coating mouthfeel.

🫣 Its alcohol by volume clocks in at 15%!!! But it’s well-integrated and balanced by a crisp acidity and robust aromas and flavors. 👌 — 13 days ago

with Deked1

Neil Valenzuela

9.2

Deep purple color. Aromas of blackberry, boysenberry and cedar. Big, cherry wine- blackberry, cedar and black tea. Wow!! — 4 years ago

Rebecca Schranz

10

described as black current and black olives. Spot on. Every sip is exciting — 5 years ago

Todd Scurci

9.2

#grolleau — 7 years ago

Good Life Provisions

8.9

100% Cab Franc. — 8 years ago

Matt Perlman

9.2

Really impressive at the price...outperformed Joly Coulee de Serrant — 8 years ago

Daniel M

9.1

No notes. I brought this to our friends to go along a plate of grilled meat and baked potatoes, fresh tomatoes. Honey and toast and a touch of lemon and red apple. The palate is dry, acid driven, lemon and green apple. Strong grip and a bit of salinity in the rear. Great stuff ! — 3 months ago

Linnea Nilsson

9.7

Jättegod chenin blanc från Loire Frankrike, rekommenderar starkt! — 9 months ago

Daniel M

9.2

At first it reminded me of a Normandy craft cider. Then I poured some in my glass and the colour struck me. It's orangey and clearly turbid. Not your casual chardonnay Sunday evening pour. The nose is verrrryyy complex, pear, apple, honey, elderflower, white pepper, some slight apricot touch and some yeasty notes too (?). The palate is great too, good acid drive, pear and apple, honey, good width, soft mouthfeel that turns into a tannic wall in the rear that caresses the tongue before powering a multi-layered finish with honey, apricot, apple, pear, a savoury, salty touch. Wow this is wild. It's absolutely not the same wine nor the same tastes and varietals but this reminds to some extent of Joly's wines from la Coulée de Serrant. Extremist in the approach somehow. These guys will die on that hill with their ideas. — 2 years ago

Mandy R

9.0

Stone fruit and slate with a touch of grapefruit. Brighter than many French Sauvignon Blancs; very tasty! — 5 years ago

Daniel M

9.5

Savennières Cuvée du château 1995, Nicolas Joly. Domaine de la Coulée de Serrant.

The nose is a bit muted right now and only displays mushroom and forest soil scents. No sign of oxydation though which I was expecting.
The palate is very wide and long. What a Chenin! Very strong acid backbone that goes for ever, apple and lemon all along, some thickness and viscosity on the sides with a strong grip. The touch is almost the one of a moelleux. This is unreal. The finish is apple and lemon and eternal freshness. It lasts for more than a minute. Great wine! — 7 years ago

Johanna Lindström

9.0

Varma valinta — 8 years ago

Hugh O'Riordan

9.5

This is. Great wine at good price. Lots of sweet tannins and will age . Syrah and Mourvèdre haven’t melded yet. Like two wines in one. — 8 years ago

Matt Perlman

9.3

Fresh, crisp, orchard fruit, ginger, white flowers — 5 months ago

Gilbert Van Hassel

9.4

I did not know that it existed and I had way too much wine to order another bottle but could not resist trying it. It is very complex, extremely aromatic, starts out as a dry wine and gradually develops in the glass, very smooth but with very nice acidity true to a chenin. Wonderful. — 4 months ago

Brandon Joldersma

9.2

Truly unique. Classic chenin flavors. But very singular and focused. Nutty, grassy, apple. Very very good. — 3 years ago

Fabian Kühlhorn

9.0

Right up my alley! Not complex or very long, but one hundred percent joy. From about one ha vineyard, raised in old barrels. Nothing added. Wild fruit bomb containing lots of black currant, blackberries, grass and bell pepper. Medium tannins, astringent and coarse texture. — 5 years ago

Te

9.3

Loved it, both you and Liz. Pear and honey, acid, floral. Pretty great. I think you love rousanne. — 6 years ago

Ely Cohn

9.4

I tend to love the weird wines made from masters. Think Paolo Bea Arboreous or Joly Coulee de Serrant or LDH Rose.

Everything about this is artificially flavored candy. It looks like cherry lollipop and smells like red Kool-Aid and Robitusson. Tastes like watermelon Jolly Rancher.

Powerful and viscous as hell, even hot. I know these can age forever and I’d love to see an older bottle. Tons of fun. — 7 years ago

Juliana Leite

10

Special night... — 8 years ago