Domaine Belargus - Veau 2019

The Wine Advocate: ""Le Veau is one of the three plots listed in the original decree creating the Quarts-de-Chaume appellation, on the western side," Ivan Massonnat explains, introducing his Anjou Sec Veau. The southwest-facing 1.68-hectare-plot rests on a flush schist area, giving this Anjou from the Quarts-de-Chaume AC (which is exclusively reserved for noble sweet wines) not only richness and power but also mineral tension and great aging potential. In 2018, Massonnat forgot to isolate the fruits of Le Veau, so it went into the Ronceray that I described earlier this year. The 2019 Anjou Sec Veau exhibits an intensely golden-yellow color followed by accordingly intense and concentrated, full and almost overripe, sweet and juicy tropical fruit that is absolutely exciting and made to meditate about whether the Quarts-de-Chaume appellation should not be opened to dry wines as well. However, this unique 2019 opens mind-blowingly intense, rich and complex and immediately asks for our time in order to explore all its depths and to follow the developments in the glass (I am using Zwiesel's wide and open Sensory Giacomo Conterno glass, which is just perfect for this kind of wine). On the palate, this full-bodied and rich yet perfectly balanced and elegant Chenin promptly reveals great finesse and minerality before the fruits come through and cover the palate with an almost oily texture; the spectacularly long finish, carried by crystalline acidity, cuts through this richness to leave the palate with a powerful, intense and aromatic as well as persistently salty aftertaste. This is another picture-book Chenin Blanc from Domaine Belargus, whose interplay of finesse and salinity with power and richness is mind-blowing. Natural cork."