Red Wines from Saumur Champigny, Irancy, and the Applegate Valley
Notes on the best wines from recent tasting
Welcome back to Notable, where twice a month I report on best wines from recent tasting. Although I have only a single Loire wine, the 2018 Saumur Champigny from Domaine de Sanzay, I didn’t hesitate to illustrate the whole post with photos from my April trip to the central Loire, in 2018, when the flowers were in bloom. I also have notes on the 2022 Benoît Cantin La Grande Côte Irancy and three Mourvèdre monovarietals from Troon Vineyard, all from 2024: Rosé, Amphora, and a new Mourvèdre raised in wood. Enjoy.
Domaine de Sanzay Beauregard Saumur Champigny 2018
13.5% ABV | $25; imported by Ansonia Wines
Seventh-generation winegrower Antoine Sanzay transformed his family’s company in 1999 when he stopped selling fruit to the cooperative and started bottling wine. Today the 11-hectare estate is certified organic, and winemaking is old-school, with ambient fermentations and aging in a mix of wooden foudres and barriques. This wine shows the true character of Loire Cabernet Franc: fragrant of green herbs and candied cherries, bright with juicy acidity but animated by rustic tannins. Its senses of sweet and tart and herbal and bitter conspire to create dark red refreshment. It’s not highly polished, not overconfident, just a drinkable, food-loving reminder of spring days in the Loire.
Benoît Cantin La Grande Côte Irancy 2022
13% ABV | $35; imported by Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant
Irancy is a red-only appellation south-west of Chablis, near Auxerre, with soils that are likewise Kimmeridgian limestone. Pinot noir is the anchor grape, but the wines may contain up to 10 percent César, an ancient hyper-local variety first mentioned in literature in 1783 but farmed there for much longer.
