Arnaud Lambert Montsoreau Saumur Blanc 2016

Arnaud Lambert Montsoreau Saumur Blanc 2016

Arnaud Lambert
$35.00

Grape: Chenin Blanc
Vintage: 2016
Type: White

This library release comes from an organically farmed single vineyard situated on the hillsides of Montsoreau along the Loire River. Winemaker Arnaud Lambert handles the chenin blanc grapes with minimal cellar intervention, utilizing spontaneous fermentation driven by native yeasts. The vines grow directly into deep beds of porous tuffeau limestone, which helps retain high natural acidity throughout the growing season. It ages in neutral French oak barrels to encourage texturally driven development while keeping heavy wood flavors out.

It shows a golden hue, opening with a complex nose of ripe lemon, yellow grapefruit, and dried chamomile over a smoky mineral background. The palate is medium-bodied and concentrated, displaying a smooth, layered mouthfeel shaped by a precise line of acidity. Evolving flavors of orchard fruit seamlessly blend with secondary notes of raw walnut and wet limestone. The aged profile remains fresh, and alive across mid-palate. It finishes long, dry, and chalky.

Arnaud studied enology and viticultural studies in Beaune and his wines show it in their somewhat Burgundian-like elegance and aristocratic polish.

What’s most incredible about Araud is his ability to churn out such quality with nearly twenty different cuvées rendered from more than forty hectares of vineyards; although this is a lot, all of his wines seem like they’ve come from a domaine with no more than five hectares. His wines are spectacularly etched jewels, short on pretension and confection, and long on harmonious depth and purity.

Arnaud, like many of the wine world’s luminaries-in-the-making, has adopted the philosophical approach to allow the terroir to define the wines, rather than the other way around. He’s most known for his wines grown on Brézé and no more than two kilometers away, from his home in Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg. These two hills gave inspiration for the subtle, two-line, soft hill shaped logo on his labels.

An important practice that Arnaud likes to bring attention to is his approach to sulfites. He prefers that all wines he vinifies and ages to be sulfite free during their processes until bottling

During the aging process, Arnaud works with many different types of vessels, large and small, and approaches Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc nearly the same, just as one would see in a Burgundian cellar with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

The entry-level wines are meant for early consumption and are typically raised in stainless steel for a six-to-eight-month period and shortly thereafter sent to market. The mid-range wines all go into French oak barrels, with a mix of new and old for usually a year or so. The top in both red and white are aged more extensively in French oak, with the best white crus taking some time in large foudre as well as small French oak barrels.

Terroir

Arnaud Lambert’s domaine vineyards are located in three communes within the Loire Valley’s Saumur region, a subsection of the larger Anjou area. This is the land of Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Franc and inexpensive bubbles. He principally works within three communes: two within the Saumur-Champigny appellation and the resurrected commune, Brézé, included in the broad AOP Saumur, on the southernmost border of the AOP Saumur-Champigny.

Saumur and neighboring Anjou have a lot in common, but can be vastly different with the end result, at least within the context of the same grapes.