Damien Laureau - Le Bel Ouvrage 2016

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Producer	Damien Laureau
Country	France
Region	Loire Valley
Subregion	Savennières
Varietal	Chenin Blanc
Vintage	2016
Sku	12015057
Size	750ml

  

WA

94

V

97

Bel Ouvrage is made from a blend of three terroirs located in the eastern part of Savennières near the village of Épiré. These are grey schist and rhyolite terroirs including one that is adjacent to the Coulée de Serrant. More backward and slower to evolve than Les Genêts, Bel Ouvrage is aged for 12 months in neutral French oak then 11 months in tank before bottling.

Working out of a small shed with a very small team, Damien Laureau is not exactly what one would call a "typical" Savennières winemaker. Fruit extracts and other non-synthetic treatments are used on the vines in place of harsh chemicals, and quite frankly, you can tell it just by looking at the vineyards. They feel alive, with wildlife and indigenous plants sharing the space with Damien's healthy vines of Chenin Blanc. Damien, along with a few other young growers, is starting to experiment with harvesting just when the grapes turn yellow (instead of the traditional Savennieres "green grapes") to take advantage of the richness that the sun brings. At the same time, he is careful not to pick too late as he wants to avoid a high level of botrytis in the harvest. As a result, the wines are a beautiful balance of richness, concentration, lively acidity, and length. Yields are quite low (an average of 35 hl/ha is quite common while most harvest at around 50 hl/ha.) Called "Undoubtedly the future star of Savennieres" by France's "La Revue de Vin de France", Damien is quietly carving out his own style with some of the most extraordinary terroir in the world. These are worldclass white wines.

This Chenin Blanc, the 2016 Le Bel Ouvrage, is now starting to throw off its youth and develop aging characters of lanolin and earthy notes alongside cooked pineapple. There's clearly been a lot of care put into this wine - the delicacy and transparency of the juice is fabulous - and although it packs plenty of power and drive, presumably from the schist and rhyolite soils, it does so in an elegant and light-footed way. There's no sense of being forced, and harmony is achieved. A smidgen more length would be very desirable.

From rhyolite soils on sandy schist, the golden-yellow colored 2016 Savennières Le Bel Ouvrage offers a pure and aromatic, highly refined and elegant, discreetly flinty bouquet with perfectly ripe and heathy Chenin aromas perfectly and seamlessly intermingled with terroir-driven floral (white blossom) notes and hints of straw, brioche and nuts. The palate is perfectly round, finessed and elegant, revealing a thrilling amalgam of crystalline acidity, elegant fruit and a highly elegant texture, a combination that leads to a long, tight and tensioned finish with lemon juice and salty flavors. This is a pure and precise yet highly elegant and complex Chenin with a piercing mineral character. Excitingly mouthwatering and tensioned. Damien recommends lobster, langoustine and cooked crustaceans with soft spices (curry, ginger, saffron) as companions to this wine. Tasted in May 2021.