Manic Monday Offer : Two Premium Bottlings from Guiberteau, the New Loire Rockstar

Sometimes in this business you can plan everything out up until a Guiberteau offer comes across your desk. And that is why we have a Monday offer. I have had the word out for a long time I am looking for Guiberteau at fair pricing and in somewhat decent quantities so I annoy the fewest number of clients possible.  Still people will be disappointed given the quantities. These wines are the truth when it comes to dry, powerful, thundering Chenin Blanc from Saumur and juicy, deep terroir driven Cabernet Franc. Breze is sacred terroir (where the Clos des Carmes comes from in today's offer, only one of three "Clos" in Breze) for Chenin and right now no one is making more thrilling Chenin from that hill than Romain Guiberteau. I had a 2010 Breze last year that was smoking. Dense like the best Batard-Montrachet, mineral like the driest wines from the Mosel, and precise like only wine made by a great winemaker can be.  I've had Clos des Carmes once and it is one of the best Chenin Blanc being made today. Impossibly great and and even more impossibly rare.

So why is this stuff so great? Most people like to start with his first vintage, where Dani Foucault of the revered Clos Rougeard tutored him and helped him and has continued to. But as usual in mentor/mentee situations the mentee has surpassed the mentor. He is certified organic and has a attention to detail/quality approach to winemaking that is necessary to make the best wines. There are many old vines going back 80+ years and they make up the bulk of the single vineyard cuvees. This is the most sought after estate in the Loire Valley right now and with good reason. I have not much of any but of course precious few of the single vineyards, so balanced orders will be most appreciated.

Up first is the uber rare 2012 Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Blanc "Clos des Carmes" which can be had for $62.99 on a 3-pack today. This is only one of 3 "Clos" within the wonderful hillside vineyard that is Breze and is a monopole of the Guiberteau family. This cuvee is made from grapes from one hectare of the highest quality grapes. Around 2,000 bottles are made in a vintage. Gorgeous nose of salty acacia notes and screaming minerality. So expressive but only after much coaxing. The palate is as dense (chalk, exotic citrus fruits) and fine as they come but this needs some time to come together, even from the giving 2012 vintage. The palate volume is ridiculous. This is a 30+ year wine.

I also have slightly more of their top red wine, the 2013 Domaine Guiberteau Saumur-Champigny "Les Arboises" for as little as $56.99 a bottle. This is from a 1 hectare site from vines planted in 1957. It is from the great hill of Breze and the soil is sand and silt over limestone. There is 80% new wood treatment but Roman is s genius and one cannot tell except by the structure. They only make around 600-700 bottles a year as this is rare as hen's teeth. This, like the Clos des Carmes is a monopole of the Guiberteau family. The wine is amazing. No hint of wood, brambly fruits, uncommon depth, juicy and pure and so finesse driven. Class in a glass and with the ability to age. This is one of the top reds being made in the Loire today.

I have so little and many will be dissapointed by there is always more wine.

2013 Domaine Guiberteau Saumur-Champigny "Les Arboises" - $59.99 ($170.97 3-pack) 

2012 Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Blanc Monopole "Clos des Carmes" - $67.99 ($188.97 3-pack)