A mid-gold hue, with abundant pastry notes, honeysuckle, orange balm and oatmeal accents, pointing toward a fuller-weighted, very ripe and ambitious Mountlouis fizz. A warm year. This is a commune that has strutted past Vouvray on the opposite side of the Loire, and is today responsible for a good swag of the most exciting white-wine producers in the region, if not the world. The wine finishes textural and bright, marked by chenin's lanolin, tarte tatin and dried hay, before a plume of dutiful freshness. From organically grown grapes.

James Suckling