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2023 Vouvray
Champalou
Céline Champalou’s Vouvray is always a joy to drink. The wine seems so pure, as if it bubbled up out of the limestone into a cool, limpid pool tended by nymphs and satyrs who pour it into the mouths of weary souls. That’s what I feel, anyway, when I grab a bottle from the fridge.
—Dustin Soiseth
Wine Type: | white |
Vintage: | 2023 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Chenin Blanc |
Appellation: | Vouvray |
Country: | France |
Region: | Loire |
Producer: | Champalou |
Vineyard: | 35 years average, 13.5 ha |
Soil: | Clay, Limestone |
Farming: | Sustainable |
Alcohol: | 12.5% |
More from this Producer or Region

2023 Sancerre
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Textbook Sancerre: bright and citrusy, with a clean, stony finish.

2023 Vouvray “Les Fondraux”
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The contrast of ripe, succulent Chenin Blanc fruit with a spike of flinty minerality is like licking honey off an arrowhead.

2020 Vin de France Rosé Grolleau/Cabernet Franc “Les Arceaux”
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Intensely dry and mineral, the structured Les Arceaux is a bottle to pair with a meal rather than to drink as an apéritif.

2020 Vin de France Blanche
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This lithe and expressive “orange” wine is an ideal palate-opener with a dry, cleansing finish and a fresh, cooling effect like coastal sage and seaspray.

2021 Saumur Champigny “Terres Chaudes”
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Thierry has perfected the art of coaxing this Cabernet Franc’s soulfulness and elusive finesse into bottle.

2018 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine “Gorges”
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Gorges boasts an incredible texture and tension imparted by decomposed, blue-green igneous rock, seventy-year-old vines, and years-long aging on the lees.

2020 Chinon “Les Varennes du Grand Clos”
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With floral aromas and fine-grained tannins, it already showcases its charms.

Vouvray Brut
France | Loire
From clay and limestone vineyards, they are able to obtain remarkable complexity in their Brut, while the texture shows both a creamy richness and an austere minerality.

2023 Quincy
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You’ll appreciate the distinctive flavor profile: born from warmer soils, it tastes of ripe, succulent citrus devoid of grassiness, while boasting the same flinty nerve as a good Sancerre.
About The Producer
Champalou
About The Region
Loire
The defining feature of the Loire Valley, not surprisingly, is the Loire River. As the longest river in France, spanning more than 600 miles, this river connects seemingly disparate wine regions. Why else would Sancerre, with its Kimmeridgian limestone terroir be connected to Muscadet, an appellation that is 250 miles away?
Secondary in relevance to the historical, climatic, environmental, and cultural importance of the river are the wines and châteaux of the Jardin de la France. The kings and nobility of France built many hundreds of châteaux in the Loire but wine preceded the arrival of the noblesse and has since out-lived them as well.
Diversity abounds in the Loire. The aforementioned Kimmderidgian limestone of Sancerre is also found in Chablis. Chinon, Bourgueil, and Saumur boast the presence of tuffeau, a type of limestone unique to the Loire that has a yellowish tinge and a chalky texture. Savennières has schist, while Muscadet has volcanic, granite, and serpentinite based soils. In addition to geologic diversity, many, grape varieties are grown there too: Cabernet Franc, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Melon de Bourgogne are most prevalent, but (to name a few) Pinot Gris, Grolleau, Pinot Noir, Pineau d’Aunis, and Folle Blanche are also planted. These myriad of viticultural influences leads to the high quality production of every type of wine: red, white, rosé, sparkling, and dessert.
Like the Rhône and Provence, some of Kermit’s first imports came from the Loire, most notably the wines of Charles Joguet and Château d’Epiré—two producers who are featured in Kermit’s book Adventures on the Wine Route and with whom we still work today.
More from Loire or France
2022 Sancerre Rouge
Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy France | Loire
2023 Chinon Rosé
Bernard Baudry France | Loire
2022 Saumur Champigny “La Foulée”
Domaine des Roches Neuves France | Loire
Vouvray Brut
Champalou France | Loire
2021 Saumur Champigny “La Marginale”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2020 Bourgueil “Nuits d’Ivresse”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2022 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie
Domaine Michel Brégeon France | Loire
2018 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine “Gorges”
Domaine Michel Brégeon France | Loire
2023 Sancerre
Daniel Chotard France | Loire
2021 Saumur-Champigny “Les Mémoires”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2023 Val de Loire Rouge Grolleau
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2021 Vin de France Blanche
Domaine Michel Brégeon France | Loire
2022 Sancerre Rouge
Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy France | Loire
2023 Chinon Rosé
Bernard Baudry France | Loire
2022 Saumur Champigny “La Foulée”
Domaine des Roches Neuves France | Loire
Vouvray Brut
Champalou France | Loire
2021 Saumur Champigny “La Marginale”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2020 Bourgueil “Nuits d’Ivresse”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2022 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie
Domaine Michel Brégeon France | Loire
2018 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine “Gorges”
Domaine Michel Brégeon France | Loire
2023 Sancerre
Daniel Chotard France | Loire
2021 Saumur-Champigny “Les Mémoires”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2023 Val de Loire Rouge Grolleau
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2021 Vin de France Blanche
Domaine Michel Brégeon France | Loire
Vintage Chart Mentality

Vintage Chart Mentality
Trust the great winemakers, trust the great vineyards. Your wine merchant might even be trustworthy. In the long run, that vintage strip may be the least important guide to quality on your bottle of wine.—Kermit Lynch