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Arnaud Lambert Coteaux de Saumur Cuvée Moïse 2001

The Loire Valley is not short of curio appellations when it comes to wine, the majority of which fly under the vinous radar of most drinkers. Look beyond the ever-popular Sancerre, Chinon, Savennières and the like, and you will discover a myriad of obscure, intriguing and frequently overlooked wine regions. The Coteaux du Tannay, perhaps, or Pouilly-sur-Loire (not to be confused with Pouilly-Fumé), Saint-Pourçain, or the few hectares of vines which represent the once great vineyard of Haut-Poitou? And let’s not forget the Côtes de la Charité….

I could go on.

It is perhaps inevitable that a degree of mythology develops around such vinous rarities, and this is certainly true of this week’s wine, from the infrequently encountered Coteaux de Saumur appellation. This is only the third example from this appellation I have featured during close to 25 years of Weekend Wines (although I did once proffer a Saumur Moelleux, even rarer, for your delectation). And I am delighted that it is one from Arnaud Lambert, because this is a vigneron with an increasingly strong reputation for the quality of his wines.

Despite what some might claim, there is nothing ‘mythical’ about the Coteaux de Saumur appellation. It has its roots in the recognition, many centuries ago, that Chenin Blanc benefited from a later harvest, and one conducted in stages, as described by the famed ampelographers Alexandre-Pierre Odart de Rilly (1778 – 1866) in Traité des Cépages (published 1845) and Louis Marie Victor Rendu (1809 – 1877) in Ampélographie Française (published 1857). Once you begin picking in stages – best, as Rendu wrote, after the skin has already entered a state of decomposition – it is surely inevitable that you will begin producing sweet (late-harvest, with or without botrytis) wines.

Arnaud Lambert Coteaux de Saumur Cuvée Moïse 2001

Another Coteaux de Saumur myth is that this rarity reflects the tiny area of vines included in this appellation; a few rows here or there, maybe just a hectare or two, in a select grouping of Saumur communes. Unfortunately none of this is true. The area of vineyard eligible for the Coteau de Saumur appellation is close to that of any other Saumur appellation; certainly very similar to that for the red wines, only slightly more restrictive than the dry white wines.

While the texts like those by Comte Odart and Rendu I cite above tell us that viticulture in Saumur began in just a handful of communes – Montsoreau, Turquant, Parnay, Souzay and Saumur itself – which were known collectively as the Coteaux de Saumur, the extent of the modern-day appellation with the same name is much broader. Today there are 17 communes eligible for Coteaux de Saumur, extending west into the Deux-Sèvres département (which is Anjou territory), east into Vienne (Touraine territory), and as far south as Le Puy-Notre-Dame. In terms of extent, this is not necessarily a tiny appellation.

The truth is Coteaux de Saumur is rare not because it hails from a tiny vineyard the size of Quarts de Chaume or Bonnezeaux, but because Saumur’s climate is not always so conducive to the production of sweet wines as it is along the banks of the Layon. It thus takes a favourable vintage (such as 2003, for example – many tried their hand that year) to sufficiently nudge a necessarily inquisitive vigneron into leaving some fruit on the vine for a potential late harvest. This is especially so these days, when sweet wines are such a difficult sell compared to the region’s dry whites. You have to wonder why a vigneron, with the invoices for the latest round of frost-protection measures in one hand, and a tax demand from the French government in the other, would take the risk.

And so to the wine. Well, before that, I can’t resist first commenting on the label of the 2001 Coteaux de Saumur Cuvée de Moïse from Arnaud Lambert, which looks like it might have been designed during the 1950s. I have to confess I like it, although I am not sure it will have the bottles flying off the shelves. The wine also comes in a green glass bottle, not that unusual for older vintages of sweet wines from the Loire Valley, but this will appear strange to those raised on the clear glass bottles of modern-day Sauternes. As for the wine, this displays a rich, red-gold hue in the glass (I should point out it is nowhere near as darkly pigmented as the image above suggests, the appearance a combination of the green glass and poor light on an overcast day).

Such red-gold intensity suggests a botrytis-driven and perhaps more liquoreux style, and the nose of the 2001 Cuvée de Moïse does indeed appear to be driven by noble rot, with layers of caramelised peach, toast, liquorice and praline. Aromatically this feels much more like a wine of the Layon than of Saumur, and the 120 g/l residual sugar is in keeping with this; most examples of Coteaux de Saumur possess a rather nervy character, more akin to a moelleux cuvée from Vouvray than to a richer Coteaux du Layon. There follows a polished and creamed palate, with rich liquid caramel flavours offset by a fine Chenin bitterness. It has a liquoreux level of richness and texture, full in the mouth and rather blunt in style; it has sweetness, charm and character, but what it misses are the more mineral notes, which is often the problem with liquoreux cuvées, and – perhaps more surprising, especially for the vintage – it is a little shy on the acidity side as well. But it has richness and density on its side, and will no doubt win some friends; if you are one of them, I still suggest you pour it a little on the cool side. 90/100 (4/11/24)

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