Brendan Stater-West 2021 Saumur Blanc MAGNUM

750ml bottle

12.5% abv

Chalk-inflected white florals and ripe green apple on the nose, leading to a palate of fleshy citrus and pulpy weight sharpened by razor-sharp freshness and jabbing minerals. Described as having serious competition with Romain Guiberteau's own Saumur Blanc in 2021 — a striking release from a high-voltage vintage. (Spon.bar, 2021 vintage note)

100% Chenin Blanc. Organically farmed. Sourced from the lower section of the Les Chapaudaises vineyard, where vines are more vigorous and yields slightly higher than the parcel used for the Les Chapaudaises cuvée.

Tuffeau limestone soils in Bizay, adjacent to Guiberteau's Clos du Guichaux. The lower parcel position distinguishes this wine from the Les Chapaudaises bottling in both yield and texture.

Whole-bunch pressed. Wild fermentation in stainless steel tanks. Aged six months on lees before bottling. No additives. Bottled in magnum, which slows the rate of oxidative development through the cork and typically extends the aging window relative to the 750ml.

The Saumur Blanc is Stater-West's second Chenin Blanc cuvée, drawing from the more vigorous lower section of the same Les Chapaudaises vineyard that supplies his flagship wine. It is a separate wine with its own distinct character — a touch more open and generous than the tighter, more vertical Les Chapaudaises, though built on the same tuffeau foundation and made with identical methods. For producer background, see the Les Chapaudaises entry. The 2021 vintage was defined by severe spring frosts across the appellation and a cool, slow-ripening summer that produced wines of high natural acidity and striking mineral precision throughout Saumur.

Brendan Stater-West is an American from Oregon who arrived in France in 2007 to teach English, became obsessed with Loire Chenin Blanc, and within two years had redirected his life entirely toward wine. The turning point was tasting Romain Guiberteau's 2013 Brézé; the day after, he went to Guiberteau's cellar and asked for an apprenticeship. He got it in 2011, spending four years as Guiberteau's right-hand person while completing a BTS in viticulture and enology, including a stint learning horse-drawn viticulture at the Clos Cristal. In 2015, Guiberteau offered him one hectare of Les Chapaudaises to farm and vinify himself. The first vintage sold out immediately.

Progress stalled badly in 2016 and 2017, when severe spring frosts left almost nothing to work with and Stater-West came close to abandoning the project entirely. The recovery came by chance: in 2018 Guiberteau was offered the vineyards of an old local family without an heir, judged he had enough on his plate, and passed the opportunity to Stater-West instead. The purchase gave him a proper domaine with a historic cellar in Chacé. He is now among the most closely watched young producers in the Loire, with Les Chapaudaises as his flagship, imported in the US by Becky Wasserman.