Arnaud Lambert Saumur Champigny Montée des Roches 2018

ARNAUD LAMBERT Saumur Champigny “Montée des Roches” 2018

Arnaud Lambert is one of the winegrowers who are acquiring the greatest progression and prestige in the Loire as a result of increasingly elegant and precise wines. Located in Saumur, in one of the most sought-after areas of the Loire Valley, it produces excellent wines made with the Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc own varieties.

The winery was created in 1996 by his father Yves Lambert, with the aim of producing high quality Loire wines. After studying oenology, biology and working for 2 years for a Bordeaux cooperage, in 2005 he returned home to work with his father. In 2011 his father passed away and Arnaud took control of the property. Arnaud grouped the two properties of his father, Domaine Saint Just and Château de Brézé to create a single property, Domaine Arnaud Lambert. Today Arnaud owns 30 Ha. In Brézé (famous for the cult white wine that until recently was produced by the Facault brothers, better known by Clos Rougeard), 20 Ha. In Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg and 7-8 Ha. In Montsoreau, at the end of the Saumur-Champigny appellation.

In Brézé they mainly have Chenin Blanc planted. In Saint-Cyr, the birthplace of the Saumur-Champigny appellation, it produces more reds (it is a typically red area), but it has continued to maintain 4 Ha of old white vines that are more than 70 years old at the top of Saint-Cyr. At Montsoreau in Saumur-Champigny, it is more suitable for Cabernet Franc with slightly deeper soils.

In his search and knowledge of the different “terroirs” that he owns, in 2006 he began to carry out tests on his farms with organic agriculture. He had no idea what quality it could get and in hindsight he says he would never go back to the conventional. Since 2012 it is certified organic. He firmly believes that the wines are much more precise and works in the constant search for knowledge that allows him to better understand the soils and thus control his impact on the wines, differentiating all his terroirs. In predominantly sandy soils, the must is vinified in concrete or stainless steel vats. The backbone of the wines in St-Cyr or Brézé is acidity, it does not seek to have more tannic structure for which it performs rather short macerations, from 8 to 10 days, which allows, according to him, to further enhance the soil. In total, it produces 15 different references between whites, reds and sparkling wines (Crémant).

Arnaud Lambert Saumur Champigny Montée des Roches 2018 is 100% 45-year-old Cabernet Franc, hailing from one of the coldest microclimates of Saumur Champigny facing east in Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg. The soils are sedimentary with clay, silt and sand on a bed of white limestone.

In the winery, the bunches are 100% destemmed and the must is fermented with its indigenous yeasts, half in French oak barrels of various uses and the other half in concrete tanks for about 10 months. After this time they are assembled and rest for another 6 months in stainless steel tanks and finally another 6-12 months in a bottle rack before going on the market.

Arnaud Lambert Saumur Champigny Montée des Roches 2018 has a beautiful ruby ​​cherry color. On the nose, red berries, wild flowers, spicy notes stand out on a limestone mineral background. In the mouth it has a medium structure, silky texture, subtle and well-defined tannin, fruit, acidity and alcohol, all the structural elements are in perfect harmony and balance with a long and persistent finish. It is a wine that obeys a style of little extraction, but there is a lot of precision and depth. It is the wine that we liked the most in its price range this last year. A producer to follow closely and a scandal Cabernet Franc.

Production: 5,000 bottles. 13.5% Alc.

Optimal consumption: 2022-2027.

Pairing: it is enormously versatile and combines well with all kinds of meats, beef with seasonal vegetables, quail stuffed with grapes, mushroom dishes, goat and cow cheeses….