Marie Lise & Thomas Batardiere Les Noels de Montbenolt Chenin Blanc 2024

Grape: Chenin Blanc
Vintage: 2024
Type: White

Sourced from the famed "Les Noëls de Montbenault" vineyard in Rablay-sur-Layon—a renowned site sitting atop a volcanic ridge of black spilite and schist—this single-parcel bottling represents Thomas Batardière’s top expression of Anjou white wine. Farmed strictly biodynamically, the ancient chenin blanc vines yield tiny quantities of intensely concentrated fruit. The hand-harvested grapes are pressed gently into neutral oak barrels, fermenting spontaneously with native yeasts without temperature control or additions. The wine rests on its fine lees for roughly 12 months before being bottled unfined, unfiltered, and zero-sulfur, offering a raw, uncompromising lens into volcanic Anjou terroir.

A deep straw-yellow color with golden highlights introduces complex, soil-driven aromas of roasted lemon, dried quince, smoky flint, beeswax, and crushed rock. The palate is dense, dry, and intensely mineral, unfolding layered flavors of pear skin, salt-cured citrus, raw honey, and yellow plum framed by a tactile, lightly phenolic grip. High, driving natural acidity slices through the wine’s concentrated leesy core, imparting remarkable vertical drive and precision. It concludes on an extraordinarily long, lip-smacking finish defined by persistent notes of wet slate, bitter grapefruit zest, and electric salinity.