Thibaud Boudignon - Anjou Blanc 2024
Thibaud Boudignon is one of the winemakers who have profoundly renewed the image of the great dry white wines of the Loire, placing Chenin Blanc at the center of a quest for purity, tension, and emotion. Established in Anjou since 2009, this native of Médoc has built his estate with rare energy, nourished by an atypical path and a culture of detail acquired through contact with great Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Loire estates. His work was initially rooted around Savennières, with remarkable vineyards such as Clos de la Hutte, before expanding to complementary Anjou terroirs. The schist and volcanic rock soils of Anjou Noir give his wines an immediately recognizable signature, made of uprightness, salinity, and intensity. Certified organic since 2019, the estate operates like a true ecosystem, with close attention to cover crops, composts, soil life, and precise harvesting. The Anjou Blanc 2024 fits into this trajectory with a rare, chiselled, and vibrant wine that carries the identity of the estate in an expression both accessible and very ambitious.
The Thibaud Boudignon Anjou Blanc 2024 is made from 100% Chenin Blanc, the major grape variety of Anjou and a wonderful revealer of terroirs. This emblematic cuvée combines grapes from organically farmed vines around Bonnezeaux and Faye d’Anjou, complemented by a parcel located in Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay, in the Gats sector. This lieu-dit, whose name evokes the abundance of stones in the soils, rests on very stony lands where schists dominate and bring power, relief, and mineral tension to the wine. The Anjou Blanc also includes second presses from Savennières, which helps to enhance its depth and refined dimension. The 2024 vintage required a particularly strict selection due to low yields and significant downy mildew pressure. Only the healthiest and ripest berries were retained, giving birth to a concentrated, precise, and expressive wine. The vinification and aging follow the estate’s philosophy, seeking a balance between juice energy, material depth, and terroir clarity.
On tasting, the 2024 Anjou Blanc from Thibaud Boudignon impresses first with its aromatic purity and brightness. The nose opens with Granny Smith apple, lime, gooseberry, and fine herb notes, between coriander, tarragon, and aniseed freshness. With aeration, the wine gains breadth with nuances of peach, apricot, tangy pineapple, citrus zest, and lemony green spices. On the palate, the acidic framework is clear, dynamic, and perfectly integrated, structuring a fluid, salivating, and very precise juice. Citrus dominates the rhythm, joined by stone fruits and beautiful mineral bitters that give relief to the material. The finish, long, savory, and intensely lemony, prolongs a sensation of momentum, purity, and salinity. This great white from Anjou will accompany today a fish tartare with herbs, sautéed shrimp, or a crab salad with citrus, then after a few years of aging, a sea bass with fennel or langoustine ravioli with lemongrass.
Grape variety: 100% Chenin Blanc
