The new juju of Anjou wine

When Ivan Massonnat left a career in private equity to go and make wine in Anjou, in the Loire, his friends thought he was crazy. “It was 2018, and the Anjou region was out of fashion – it was known for cheap rosé and sweet wines,” he recalls. “They said, ‘Anjou is a basket case – it just doesn’t have the quality.’” 

Massonnat, a passionate wine lover, had been a regular visitor to the region since he’d bought a second home in the Loire in 2006. “Anjou was particularly fascinating to me because it’s home to the oldest, smallest, most prestigious appellations for Chenin Blanc grapes in the Loire,” he says. “It has a history of fine wine viticulture going back 1,000 years, but that had been forgotten. It was a diamond in the rough.”

FOUR FOR THE CELLAR 

Domaine Belargus Treilles 2020
Massonnat likes his chenin “al dente” – or just on the edge of ripeness – with lots of time ageing on lees and in bottle. The result is complex but fresh with a savoury intensity that’s designed for cellaring. €140, closdesmillesimes.com

Thibaud Boudignon Savennières Le Clos de Frémine 2022
Boudignon’s obsessive attention to detail is articulated in this immaculate chenin – notes of nashi pear, creamy white almond, and lemon seasoned with an appetising tang of seawater. £60.20, justerinis.com

Patrick Baudouin Effusion Anjou Blanc 2018
This is chenin in a more thoughtful mood – ripe notes of quince and apple cake, balanced by a fine bitterness on the finish. You get a real sense of place – there is a lovely uncontrived quality to it. £32, wanderlustwine.co.uk

Domaine du Closel Clos du Papillon 2021
Exuberant tropical fruitiness on the nose – lychee, pineapple, rose – shot through with schist-y flintiness. A full-bodied, golden, textural wine that combines honeyed generosity with a citric zip. £32.50, laywheeler.com

Armed with a chequebook and a wealth of contacts, Massonnat began acquiring legacy vineyards in the Anjou Noir, including the acclaimed Coteau des Treilles, formerly owned by Loire trailblazer Jo Pithon, and part of Quarts de Chaume, the Loire’s only Grand Cru. Together, they formed the 24-hectare, biodynamically farmed Domaine Belargus. Aided by winemaker Adrien Moreau (formerly of Louis Roederer, Harlan Estate and Cheval Blanc), Massonnat set his sights on making terroir-driven dry chenin – and it wasn’t long before his arresting wines were catching the eye of Loire connoisseurs. Within three years Belargus had won its first 100-point score from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. 

Thanks to modernisers like Massonnat Anjou is reclaiming its place on the fine wine map – but the region has also emerged as a fulcrum for winemaking at its most radical. “Anjou is French wine’s great bohemian laboratory,” declares Jon Bonné in his book The New French Wine (Ten Speed). “It is the heart of France’s natural wine movement.” Affordable land has played its part, says Bonné. So, too, has the proximity of several of the “original natural wine fairs… so every year, you have people interested in a very new view of wine coming to spend time there.” The wine writer also notes: “It has old, historic bones and a bit of a populist streak… [it’s] by no means new territory in the literal sense, but the work being done on the old dirt is groundbreaking.”  

Anjou luminaries include biodynamic pioneer Nicolas Joly and “folk hero” Richard Leroy (both worked in finance before getting into wine). Bonné also highlights the organic winemaker and philosopher of terroir Patrick Baudouin. “His Effusion Anjou Blanc, which is chenin on a mix of volcanic soils, is a good snapshot of Anjou Noir… with olive and fresh orange accents.” The family-owned Domaine du Closel in Anjou’s Savennières appellation is also a favourite – its expressive wines “combine the classic and radical in the best way”.

The wines that got me into Anjou were the chenins of Thibaud Boudignon, a former judo champion whose name now figures on some of France’s most revered wine lists. One sip of the Le Clos de Frémine Savennières is enough to make you sit up a little bit straighter. 

Massonnat is now revamping a second wine property near his house in the Loire called Domaine Beauséjour. So be careful where you buy that holiday home – it might spell a whole new career. 

@alicelascelles