2023 Clau de Nell par Anne Claude Leflaive, Chenin Blanc, Anjou AOC, Loire Valley, France.
The Clau de Nell wines are super rare, highly allocated and have a cult like following, so it was a thrill to get my hands on and try out Anne-Claude’s Chenin Blanc, sourced from her biodynamic vines in the Loire’s Anjou region, and it was not a disappointment, as this wine full impressed my palate with a pure mineral infused intensity and slightly reductive, like Leflaive’s famous white Burgundy, presence in the glass. This elegant, dry Chenin delivers the terroir with a chalky sensation, but also carries with it the concentration and depth you’d want in a elite version, it gives lemony tones, white peach, poached pear and golden fig fruits, along with clove spice, leesy induced hazelnut, unsweetened honeycomb, a hint herbs and wet gun flint. Leflaive is a name known throughout the world for some of the greatest white Burgundy wines, including my all time favorite Batard-Montrachet, and It was Anne-Claude Leflaive’s wish to have Chenin Blanc on the Clau de Nell estate, an extension of her Bourguignon know-how. Previously the property was know mostly for its reds, so in 2012 Leflaive planted the Chenin with her precious help, as well as of Lydia Bourguignon, a world renown geologist. The idea then was to produce great dry white wine, one destined for gastronomy, with soulful complexity and a sense of place. True to mission, the vines were carefully selected and planted on clayey-limestone soil, which gives the wines a great minerality, which this 2023 shows in brilliant fashion. A big thank you to Jerome’s market in Carmel Valley, that has an impressive stock of rare Loire Chenin, who generously shared this bottle with some local industry people and winemakers recently.
Anne-Claude Leflaive, of Domaine Leflaive Burgundy fame, as noted, has also Clau de Nell, a historic old estate, with cellars carved in the limestone, which is located in the Loire Valley region of Anjou, and has been in existence for well over 100 years. The vineyards, in keeping with Leflaive’s ideals, were fully converted to biodynamic cultivation in 2000, and the property was purchased completely by Leflaive and Christian Jacques in 2008, who then appointed the very talented Sylvain Potin as their biodynamic Viticulturalist and Winemaker, turning this project into a very serious and highly coveted label within the wine world. Clau de Nell has just 10-hectares of hillside vines and the estate grows Grolleau, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chenin Blanc, offering sweeping views of the Loire River and surrounding area, it was so captivating a place, Leflaive could not resist its charms. For her Chenin Blanc, Potin employs a gentle whole cluster pressing of the 100% Chenin Blanc bunches in a slow cycle pneumatic press. The juice is then Cold settled followed byall all spontaneous native yeast fermentation in used oak barrels from Burgundy, from you know where obviously. Then the Chenin Blanc is aged twelve months on fine lees in the quality French oak, which are 1-5 times used medium to medium plus toast Burgundy 228L barrels, in those ancient troglodyte cellars, cut into the noted limestone hillside, and then rested a further 6 months in stainless steel vats, before bottling. This vinous and vivid pale gold/straw hued 2023 is drinking incredible and while not easy to find or cheap, this is a true Chenin Blanc enthusiast bottle to covet. After trying this wine, I’m even more curious about the Rouge offerings here, especially as I’m a fan of the Anjou region’s Cabernet Franc based reds.
($85 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive