2021 Les Perrieres Saumur Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg (blanc)

From vines averaging 65 years old on clayey-sandy silt over limestone. Vinified with indigenous yeast after separating free run juices and matured for 12 months, half in older barriques (3-5 year-old) and half in foudres. Shows a very clear expression of fruit with barrel-ferment notes adding complexity to the fresh, long and concentrated finish. Un-fined, filtered at bottling.

In the glass the 2021 Saumur Blanc Les Perrières from Arnaud Lambert possesses a pale straw hue, and it presents a surprisingly concentrated nose (from this cooler vintage) of confit fruits, all orange and dried apricot, perhaps lightly polished by the oak, but sprinkled with crushed limestone and overlaid with an attractive reductive character. It continues in this fresh and bright vein on the palate, showing salty and cool, with a delicate sense of construct, supporting savoury fruit and a sinewy texture through the middle. It remains appealingly bitter and cool through to the finish, which shimmers with citrus pith substance before a firm and delicately saline finish. This is a very fine example of Saumur Blanc, its character shaped by the limestone beneath the vines. The alcohol on the label is 13.5%. 92 points, thewinedoctor.com, May 2024.

The 2021 Saumur Champigny Les Perrieres displays a lightness of touch. With a low pH, this dry Chenin is pure and precise. Fermented in foudres and older barrels over ten months, subtle pastry flavors join the quince-like and citrus fruit. While delicate it blossoms in the mouth befoe concluding with a fine line of tantalizing acidity. 91 points, Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous, June 2023.