Chateau Yvonne Saumur Blanc Les Arbres 2023

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Mathieu Vallée of Château Yvonne produces tiny quantities of stunningly gorgeous, mineral-laden, crystalline Chenin Blancs and juicy, spicy, multi-dimensional Cabernet Francs. They are among the very best in the region and belong in any serious Loire Valley lover’s cellar.

The story of Château Yvonne dates all the way back to the 1600s when monks planted vines and built the château historically known as the Abbaye de Fontevraud in the tiny village of Parnay. Fast forward to the late twentieth century. The vines and cellars had been long since abandoned and the estate had fallen into disrepair. In 1997, the property was purchased by Jean-François and Yvonne Lamunière who with the help of Françoise Foucault (wife of dearly departed Clos Rougeard vigneron Charly Foucault) set about breathing new life into the vines. Organic practices were introduced and parcels were replanted. They renamed the old abbey Château Yvonne and began producing wine under that name.

After a decade of hard work, the Lamunières decided to put the property up for sale. Enter Mathieu Vallée, a trained engineer originally from a winemaking family in Bourgeuil, who was burnt out on industry and eager to return to the agrarian life. He took ownership of the estate in 2007 and that’s when things really started to take off.

He immediately implemented biodynamics, spending countless hours working vine by vine to maximize soil-health and vine vitality. At harvest, everything is picked by hand and rigorously selected. Fermentations are natural and the wines age in older barrels of various sizes. A minimal dose of sulfur is used just before the bottling. The wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Château Yvonne is fundamentally committed to bringing raw terroir expression front and center. The vineyards sit on what the locals call “La Côte”, the plateau adjacent to the church in the center of Parnay, overlooking the Loire river. These gently sloping sites feature a minuscule layer of top-soil before hitting pure Tuffeau mother rock which give the wines their shockingly intense mineral texture and high-toned, weightless fruit. La Côte has never reached the levels of fame of Brézé further to the south. Perhaps these sites were a bit too cool in the pre-global warming era. But today, the added freshness and cut is more than welcome.