Perray-Jouannet‘Quartz’2023

<p>Breathing new life into his family’s Anjou estate Château de la Saulaie and producing some of the best value bottles we’ve tasted in a long time, Rémi Pivert is building a reputation for exceptional artisanal wines made under the Perray-Jouannet label.</p><p>Returning to the Loire Valley in 2018, Rémi has revived this patchwork of quartz and limestone parcels with diligent organic farming and sélection massale – a process of replanting using top-quality cuttings from old vines.</p><p>Rémi now farms 19ha of traditional Loire varieties, including Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Grolleau Noir, and Gamay. Fermented with native yeasts and aged in either stainless steel or barrel for a minimum of year, his wines are bottled without additional sulphites.</p><p>From younger vines grown on gravel soils close to the Bonnezeaux appellation, ‘Les Sables’ is a beautifully pure and crystalline expression of Chenin Blanc. The estate’s flagship white – Anjou Blanc – is from a south-facing, quartz vineyard and aged for 15 months in oak barrels: textural and vibrant, it combines spicy fruit with saline minerality. A blend of Cabernet Franc, Gamay, and Grolleau, ‘Les Jardins’ Rouge spends a year in barrel, resulting in brambly fruit layered with tobacco and herbs.</p><p>As prices and demand for wines from Anjou’s top domaines grow with each vintage, it is immensely exciting to find bottles from under the radar talent such as Perray-Jouannet which excel in value and drinkability.</p>