Thibaud Boudignon - À Françoise - Anjou Blanc 2023
Thibaud Boudignon has built in Anjou one of the most sought-after estates of contemporary Loire, centered around a demanding vision of dry Chenin Blanc. Arriving in La Possonnière in 2009, he gradually shaped a precise vineyard, nourished by his experience in Burgundy and by an almost artisanal attention to aging, massal selections, and terroir reading. His atypical path, between high-level sport, apprenticeship in great estates, and Ligérien rooting, gives his wines a unique intensity. In the Anjou Noir, the schist and volcanic rock soils offer Chenin a tense, saline, and deeply mineral expression. The À Françoise 2023 cuvée holds a special place in this story, as it is among the wines that revealed very early the signature of Thibaud Boudignon. Through this rare and precise Anjou white, the estate delivers an intimate interpretation of a place, a family memory, and a grape variety capable of great nobility.
The Thibaud Boudignon À Françoise Anjou Blanc 2023 is made from 100% Chenin Blanc, from an intra-parcel selection located in the Gats sector, in Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay. This lieu-dit, whose name refers to the abundance of stones, rests on a very stony terroir where gray schists, spilites, and rhyolites mingle, characteristic formations of this part of the Anjou Noir. The cuvée comes from the upper part of the hillock, where the grapes are particularly concentrated, expressive, and precise. The more clayey zones of the parcel are intended for the estate's Anjou Blanc, while À Françoise retains the most tense, saline, and longest expression of the terroir. Thibaud Boudignon keeps here only the first juices, sought after for their purity, freshness, and finesse. The 2023 vintage produces a wine both powerful and chiselled, built on a balance between density of matter, acidic energy, and mineral vibration. This cuvée pays tribute to Françoise and François, decisive family figures, while affirming one of the most accomplished expressions of Anjou Chenin.
On the palate, À Françoise 2023 opens with a nose of great freshness, dominated by rare citrus fruits, yuzu, kalamansi, and lemony notes of great precision. Aeration reveals a refined floral register, between white rose, hawthorn, and fresh tulip, then nuances of beeswax, flower honey, Reinette apple, Comice pear, and white peach. On the palate, the attack combines delicacy and power, with a satiny texture that immediately gives depth to the wine. The tension then unfolds with intensity, refocusing the matter around a very pure, almost chalky mineral axis. Notes of citrus, wet stone, and fine spices extend a sensation of vibrant density, without ever weighing down the balance. The finish, long, straight, and saline, confirms the character of a great Chenin for aging, shaped to evolve with elegance. This wine will accompany precisely a citrus sea bass carpaccio, monkfish in a puff pastry crust with preserved lemon, langoustines, refined iodized cuisine, or an aged goat cheese.
Grape variety: 100% Chenin Blanc
