2025 Thibaud Boudignon, Rosé de Loire, Loire Valley, France.
Thibaud Boudignon from his organic winery and biodynamic vineyards, located in Savennières and La Possonnière, in the Anjou region of the Loire Valley, turns out some fabulous wine, especially his Chenin Blancs, but I do love his delightful and bone dry Rosé de Loire, made from 90% Cabernet Franc and 10% Grolleau, which adds a bit of zest spice. This all stainless steel raised, no malo, Rosé is brilliant in the glass, vibrant on the palate, which is crisp and mineral driven, with sour cherry, plum water, cranberry, ruby citrus and tart currant fruits, along with a hint of crunchy herbs, wet stones, seeped lilac and delicate peppery notes. This 2025 version was cool and refreshing, perfect for after work, warm evening drinking, wonderfully quaffable as an aperitif and would be equally enjoyable as a sunset beach sipper, which sounds like a plan. This nicely expressive Rosé comes from 30+ year old vines from Lys Haut Layon, set on shallow soils of grey schist and rhyolite (volcanic soil) and clay, which give the mineral nuance and generous detail here. Just a short bit of lees aging and quick bottling here really promotes precise clarity and natural acidity that make this Rosé such a delight and allows for simple enjoyment, while Boudignon’s Savennières, in particular the single vineyard expressions, require much more serious thought. Many people rate Boudignon’s Chenin Blancs as some of the greatest dry wines in the region, if not the world, so finding them can be a real unicorn hunt.
These Thibaud Boudignon wines are thrilling, but with a cult like following, and as mentioned in my prior reviews, they are almost impossible to find on wine shop shelves, so it is always exciting to get a chance to try new releases of his Anjou Blanc and the limited Savennières bottlings, which is, as seen before, are outstanding (dry) expressions of organic Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley region. The charismatic and talented Thibaud Boudignon, founded his own label in 2009, as noted previously, is all biodynamic in farming and cellar methods now, and uses only native (indigenous) yeasts for his whites, plus the Rosé, and no malo, but can use between 20% and 30% new oak, with 228L, 350L and 700L size barrels employed across his collection. For the Rosé, Boudignon employs a direct press, short maceration and cool native yeast fermentation, with, exclusively, the mentioned stainless steel tank. Again as noted before, The ex-Bordeaux native, Thibaud Boudignon, who’s already a wine geek and Chenin hero, typically ferments his wines with all de-stemmed grapes, using natural yeasts, from all biodynamic vines. I usually mainly focus on the more approachable Anjou bottlings, and as I’ve said before, go with the Anjou Blanc and this Rosé, both being favorites as well as being more affordable. Again, I’ve been lucky enough to have been follow Boudignon’s wines for 15 plus years, but the current set of releases have even surprised me, they have taken another jump up in quality, so don’t miss a chance to try these wines.
($28 Est.) 90 Points, grapelive