Thibaud Boudignon Clos de la Hutte 2020
Savennieres
Regular price $94.99
Savennieres Clos de la Hutte 2020 96VM
Thibaud Boudignon
$89.99 SALE x just 12 bottles
$94.99 regular96 pts Vinous MediaThe 2020 is a wine that makes your shoulders drop, such is its tranquility and sense of comfort in your mouth. It blooms in the mouth and does so without any sense of heaviness. The finish, scented with flowers and nectarines, is long, fragrant and textural. I hate using the word minerality as it means so many different things to people, but in my opinion, this has it in spades. It is incredible that the vines were only planted in 2011 on the schistous site on the grounds of a former monastery. Aged in larger format barrels, there's no sense of oakiness, allowing the purity of this wine to shine bright. - By Rebecca Gibb MW on June 2022
- High density plantings, practicing biodynamic
- From the lieu-dit ‘Clos de La Hutte’ in the hamlet of La Possonnière
- Planted in 2011 – massal selection
- Grown on solid schist, some spots to the surface, others 15cm of clay and sand before hitting the mother rock
- No malo, indigenous yeasts
- Aged in 50% 350l and 50% 500l barrels (15% new)
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Reinhardt from the Wine Advocate on Boudignon:
Originally from Bordeaux, Thibaud Boudignon honed his winemaking skills in Burgundy before moving to the Loire Valley as winemaker for Chateau Soucherie. After sucessfully righting the ship there very quickly, he set up his own domaine in the Savennières AOC in 2009. After he had studied numerous old books on Chenin Blanc and the Loire region, he knew that is where he wanted to collect his parcels, and the most famous one became the 0.5-hectare Clos de la Hutte in La Possonnière. His own first vintage was 2011. Thibaud aims for precise, fresh, structured and mineral-driven terroir wines from organic, particularly biodynamic, top vineyards planted with either old vines or top genetics. His wines are vinified in oak barrels from 220 to 700 liters and do not undergo malolactic fermentation. The Chenins from Thibaud Boudignon are pretty expensive but worth the investment. The wines are rare, sought-after and top stars in the sommelier scene in Paris and elsewhere. I hope I will be able to taste the more recent wines (2018, 2019) soon.
Vinous Media, Rebecca Gibb, MW:
Thibaud Boudignon is a recent entry to Savennières, having started his project in 2009, but oh, my, the purity of these wines from this former judo champion is impeccable. His three Savennières - La Vigne Cendrée, Clos de Fremine and Clos de la Hutte - are within spitting distance of each other but each have their own personalities: Clos de la Fremine with its sandy top soil is delicate and open whereas Clos de la Hutte, planted on schist, tends to be fuller and more brooding. The theme that runs throughout the range is the transparency and harnessed power of the wines, which marks a contrast to bigger, bolder Savennières styles produced elsewhere. In 2021, Boudignon planted a 2.5ha site less than a minute's walk from the other parcels: Devant Le Jeu. He also owns 2ha across the Loire in the Anjou appellation. Boudignon says he's stopping at that. There's also a small, modern winery at the site, a few minutes' drive to the south of Savennières which was completed in 2016. You'll find tanks as well as a range of barrels in various shapes and sizes, but oak is used not to bring flavor but texture. Boudignon has an unusual albeit practical approach in the cellar: conducting the harvest in the vineyard and holding the juice at 3˚C until all the parcels are picked so that all the work in the vineyard is done and then can concentrate solely on making the wines. There's no malo here - it's cheating, according to Boudignon. This may only be a young domaine, but the clarity of the wines made from young vines has made the world sit up and take note.