Anjou sits at the broad heart of the Loire Valley and offers one of Chenin Blanc’s most versatile expressions. Here, the grape moves fluidly between dry, off-dry, sweet, and sparkling styles, shaped by a temperate climate and a mosaic of schist, limestone, and clay soils. Dry Anjou Chenin typically shows orchard fruit, quince, and citrus, layered with gentle honeyed tones and bright, mouth-watering acidity. The style balances generosity with tension, producing wines that are immediately appealing yet capable of developing savoury complexity over time.
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"The wines of Boudignon were the best dry chenins that I tasted at the Salon of Angers, we are at the level of 1er Cru and Grand Cru Burgundy."
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Thibaud Boudignon is among the most compelling modern voices of Chenin Blanc in the Loire, crafting intensely precise, mineral-driven wines from top sites in Savennieres and Anjou. Farming biodynamically and working with low yields, native fermentations, and gentle elevage, Boudignon’s wines emphasise purity, texture, and site expression over overt power. The wines are taut yet layered, combining vibrant acidity with deep mineral resonance and quiet concentration. Produced in small quantities, his Chenins are sought after for their clarity, finesse, and graceful evolution with age.
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Saumur is one of Chenin Blanc’s most refined strongholds in the central Loire, celebrated for wines that emphasise freshness, precision, and quiet complexity. The region’s hallmark tuffeau limestone soils lend a distinctive chalky imprint, underpinning Chenin with bright acidity, linear structure, and a gently saline edge.
Dry Saumur Chenin typically offers aromas of pear, apple, white peach, and citrus, layered with subtle floral notes and hints of almond, honey, and crushed stone. The style is generally more restrained and lifted than in warmer parts of Anjou, favouring clarity over richness, with a fine-boned palate and long, mineral-driven finish.
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"Without question, this estate ranks as a jewel of Saumur, with Antoine illustriously advancing the Foucault family legacy."
Michel Bettane
THE WINE ADVOCATE
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Domaine du Collier is one of Saumur’s most revered small domaines, founded by Antoine Foucault, son of Clos Rougeard’s Charly Foucault. Working primarily with old-vine Chenin Blanc from limestone-rich sites around Saumur, the estate farms organically and follows a low-intervention approach in the cellar. Taut, mineral, and unassumingly powerful, Domaine du Collier’s Chenins are among the Loire’s most sought-after expressions, prized for their finesse and long ageing potential.
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"Arnaud Lambert is a domaine in the ascendancy."
Rebecca Gibb MW
VINOUS.COM
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Arnaud Lambert crafts precise, mineral-driven Chenin Blancs from Saumur’s top limestone sites, notably around Breze and Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg. Farmed organically and made with a low-intervention approach, his wines emphasise purity, tension, and site expression, offering finely detailed whites of clarity, energy, and quiet depth.
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Montlouis-sur-Loire is one of Chenin Blanc’s most compelling homes, producing wines that marry finesse, energy, and understated depth. Defined by clay-limestone and tuffeau soils on the south bank of the Loire, Montlouis emphasises freshness, purity of fruit, and mineral detail. Dry examples typically show pear, apple, quince, and citrus, with white floral notes and subtle honeyed nuance, carried by a supple yet precise palate and a chalky, saline finish. While capable of producing dry, off-dry, sparkling, and sweet styles, it is the dry whites that best capture the appellation’s signature: poised, transparent wines that offer immediate charm and graceful ageing potential.
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"The Pope of Montlouis and Vouvray—just a sublimely great producer. He knows his vineyards better than anyone and he styles his cuvées according to the contours of each vineyard. The wines are pure and clean, yet profoundly expressive. And they are still phenomenal value."
Rajat Parr and Jordan Mackay
THE SOMMELIER'S ATLAS OF TASTE
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Francois Chidaine is one of the Loire’s leading Chenin Blanc specialists, renowned for pure, finely detailed wines from Montlouis-sur-Loire and Vouvray. Farming organically and biodynamically, Chidaine crafts site-driven Chenins that emphasise freshness, mineral tension, and clarity, offering poised whites that balance immediacy with graceful ageing potential.
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Vin de France Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley offers a freer, more exploratory expression of the grape, unbound by the stylistic rules of individual appellations. Producers often use the category to highlight specific parcels, old vines, or experimental approaches, resulting in wines that emphasise purity, texture, and site character rather than typicity. Styles are predominantly dry, showing orchard fruit, citrus, gentle floral tones, and a subtle mineral line, with natural acidity providing lift and structure. These are wines that clearly speak to Chenin Blanc’s versatility while giving winemakers latitude to push boundaries and refine their personal vision.
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"It's not hard to see how the wines have gained a cult following, they are incredibly compelling. They combine density with complexity, incisiveness and a fine mineral backbone."
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Chateau de Bonnezeaux is a revived historic estate in the heart of Bonnezeaux, crafting expressive Chenin Blancs from schist-rich slopes above the Layon. Alongside traditionally styled sweet wines, the domaine now focuses on finely detailed dry Chenin, much of it bottled as Vin de France to allow greater freedom of expression. Farmed organically and made with a low-intervention approach, the wines emphasise purity, mineral tension, and quiet depth, offering a modern, site-driven take on this classic corner of Anjou.
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"Stephane Bernaudeau's Chenin Blanc is undoubtedly the Loire Vally's purest and most energetic. These are unmissable"
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Stéphane Bernaudeau is a small-scale but highly respected producer of dry Chenin Blanc in Anjou, farming roughly three hectares around Martigné-Briand with biodynamic principles. After many years working under Mark Angéli at La Ferme de la Sansonnière, he now crafts intensely pure, mineral, and finely textured wines from single parcels of old vines on schist and clay soils. Bernaudeau bottles most of his Chenins as Vin de France to allow full freedom of expression beyond appellation constraints, and his limited productions such as Les Onglés and Les Nourrissons are celebrated for their clarity, tension, and energetic mineral drive.
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