Louis de Grenelle Saumur Ivoire Brut NV
A$38, 12.4% alcohol, Cork, Loire Valley.
Chenin blanc does the heavy lifting here (70%), with chardonnay (20%) and grolleau (10%) in support. Peaches, cooked apples, cinnamon spice; it's generous through the mouth, but fresh, with rose petals and kirsch characters trailing through the finish. There’s above average complexity here and yet it’s creamy, harmonious and easy to like.
Score: 91/100 – Campbell Mattinson
Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He founded The Winefront, is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion (and former editor of Halliday magazine), and is the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He is 100% independent, and tastes between 5,000 and 10,000 wines each year, blind and in comparative brackets as often as is practicable.
Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.
