Benoit Chauveau Coteaux du Giennois Calcaire 2021

Domaine Benoit Chauveau is a long-time First Bottle favorite. They make beautiful expressions of sauvignon blanc from the various terroirs of the Loire Valley, including Sancerre, Pouilly Fume, Pouilly sur Loire, and here in the Coteaux du Giennois . At a cool $14.95 – this is a fantastic white to load up on – a pristine match for almost any occasion.

The Chauveau family has been farming the region since the 1800s, yet it was the efforts of the current generation, Benoit Chauveau, that united the scattered parcels and shifted focus solely towards grape growing. He began with the purchase of his parents’ parcel in 1995, adding on his grandparents’ holdings a couple of years later. Today, the domaine stretches across 17 hectares, including 2 hectares of sauvignon blanc in the Coteaux du Giennois used for this wine.

With the prices of sauvignon blanc from neighboring Pouilly Fume and Sancerre skyrocketing, in many cases doubling in the last decade, it is up-and-coming regions like Coteaux du Giennois that are seeing huge investment and increased interest from the international wine scene. It is a very small appellation with only about 470 acres planted, which surrounds the village of Gien. They make two different wines from their parcels here, determined by the soils – “Silex” and this “Calcaire.” This wine hails from all limestone soils, and man, it is SO GOOD! Zesty, flinty and stony, dry sauvignon blanc that weighs in with a wonderful liquified rock minerality, with loads of salivary-gland-tickling citrus oils, candied grapefruit, and straw with a finish, that has a whiff of sea-salty air. 2021 is a vintage that is exceptionally challenging, as the region was rocked by the worst frost in over two decades. The yields are way, way down, but what berries survived enjoyed a cool, long summer, with a warm and dry few weeks just prior to harvest.

The 2021 marks a symbolic return to a more classic style – brighter, fresher, beautifully aromatic wines that show less unctuous ripeness than the 2020 that many of you bought from us. It’s intensely clean, and incredibly pure...simply classic sauvignon blanc that stuns at this amazing price! Grab a case, you will not regret it!

PAIRING IDEAS: Two words: shrimp tacos. Dust the shrimpies with some Aleppo pepper and garlic, sautee them in butter, finish with a splash of this wine and a squeeze of lemon and load up with your favorite taco provisions – I’m going cilantro, pickled red onion, and guacamole on corn tortillas.