Forteresse de Berrye, Chenin Blanc "Les Bourgères" Saumur Blanc, Loire Valley, France 2022

The Chenin from Forteresse de Berrye carries a little bit of that Montlouis/Vouvray sweet and exotic grapey green and waterlogged, clean forest floor dampness, two qualities in Chenin that when done right are utterly alluring.

Forteresse de Berrye’s expressive and terroir-focused wines are crafted in a simple and direct way. Its new owners, Gilles, an agronomist and agricultural engineer, and his wife, Sandra, have eliminated the use of all chemical applications in 2019 and began organic culture in 2021. For them, agroforestry is crucial for repairing the land, though luckily for them (and us), the property’s many parcels were well-tended and not destroyed by excessive use of synthetic products prior to their arrival.