Thibaud Boudignon, 2015 Update
Savennières might grab all the limelight, but there are great terroirs waiting to be exploited in the Anjou vineyards on the opposite side of the Loire as well. Someone who knows this, and who is tending vines on both sides of the river, is the young Thibaud Boudignon (pictured). He first popped onto my radar as winemaker at Château Soucherie, a palace that sits on the banks of the Layon, and while he continues in that role he is also forging a reputation for himself with a little domaine, built up vine-by-vine and barrel-by-barrel, in the foothills of Savennières.
It was here that I first met him face to face, last year. His wines are magnificent. Indeed, if I were in the habit of handing out gongs or trophies (maybe I should get into this, it seems like a good self-publicity model) I would have handed one to Thibaud last year. His wines were the discovery of 2014, his Anjou taut and convincing, his Savennières regal and deeply flavoursome.
The Wines
My recent catch-up with Thibaud gave me the opportunity both to check out the 2014 vintage for the first time, and to revisit the 2013 vintage, and I started with the more recent of the two. Thibaud poured his two superior cuvées, the 2014 Anjou Blanc Francois(e) and the 2014 Savennières Les Fougerais, and together they provided further evidence of the fine quality of this vintage. The first is fermented in wood, the norm for Thibaud, although here a portion goes into cigares, cigar-shaped 300-litre barrels the presence of which reflects the influence Didier Dagueneau has had on Thibaud. Didier was well known for his cigar-shaped barrels (among many other things) made for him to his specific design. The advantage of these barrels, says Thibaud, is not their size (at 300 litres they are neither particularly small or large) but their shape, the very long body permitting a much greater contact between the wine and the lees. “I want the grandest wine possible”, says Thibaud, “with more minerality, more salinity, more precision, and these barrels help me in achieving that through increasing the effect of the lees”. Currently neither wine has made it into bottle yet, but both have magnificent potential, perhaps Les Fougerais a touch more than the François(e).
