Try this wine before you die! Why? It is one of those truly distinctive wines...and utterly delicious.
I don’t remember my first Bordeaux, Sancerre, Chianti or even Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc but I do remember my first Savennières. It was while I was doing the WSET Diploma at their HQ in London.
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| Domaine des Baumard's Savennieres from the Clos du Papillon vineyard | © baumard.fr |
During a class we’d often have a flight of semi-blind wines (we’d know the country or general area where they were from but that was it). I remember smelling this wine thinking it was a dessert wine, a botrytis dessert wine: it had concentrated aromas of marmalade, honey and baked apple. But, then in the mouth is was bone dry but intense, concentrated and long. My gosh the length. It just kept going. When the wine was revealed to us as a Clos du Papillon from Savennières the wine and name was etched into my mind.
Out of the hundreds of wines tasted during that diploma that Savennières was by far the most distinctive and memorable. They can display such an unusual combination of nerve, concentration, power, and longevity. They can be quite tart when young so try to get one that’s at least 7 years old. High acidity, intense minerality and the sort of tension that takes a few years to sort out mean it can be quite tight in youth, bright and dark at the same time. Give it time and it turns to honey, baked quince and beeswax. Thrilling and compelling.