Guiberteau

O

Oswaldo Costa

Oswaldo Costa
Curiosity about this Foucaultphile winery, named after the founder of bossa nova (as pronounced locally), led me to assemble this rash of infanticides, taking four for the teamsters.

The winery claims to not chaptalize, and the alcohols are remarkably low.

2013 Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Blanc 11.5%
Entry level white. Vibrant white flowers and gunpowder. Astringent, intense citric acidity. Excellent mouth weight. Found the acidity a bit too much, but the better half didn’t. 2013 was a thankless vintages, but the 11.5% and the acidity suggest no attempt to correct. Bravo for transparency.

2011 Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Brézé 12.0%
Decanter shows spectacular minerality on a base of white flowers, with a bit of annoying oak. Glass is more circumspect, bringing out the wood and some lanolin. Acidity also tastes citric, but less intense than the preceding. Body and finish seemed somewhat unsatisfactory.

2011 Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Les Arboises 12.0%
From limestone mixed with clay, the most common soil of the region. Beautiful aroma, full of character: plums, herbs and coffee. Somewhat right bankish, like a 2008 Clos downed in November. Are Saumur CFs those that most resemble CF-dominated right bankers? Peehaps. Mouth weight surprisingly good for a 12 percenter, with no sign of wood, overextraction, or supermaturity. Typical varietal herbaceousness. Not the king of complexity, but conveyed a sense of great purity. Crystal.

2011 Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Les Motelles 12.0%
From locally anomalous gravel and sand over clay. 60 year old vines, their oldest. Pretty shut down, showing a bit of dark fruit, between plum and blackberry. Pronounced acidity, followed by unpleasant bitterness. Herbaceous notes at the end. Also no sign of wood, overextraction, or supermaturity. Went down well once I stopped looking, but nowhere near as likeable as the Arboises. At this point.

Conclusion (as far as possible with wine so young): the whites are aromatically spectacular, have pungent acidity, but the fancier cuvées may have too much wood. The reds reminded me of CF-dominant right bankers (White Horse, anyone?), with good acidity, light alcohol, and no taste of wood (a third to half the reds see new wood for 18 months). But would have to compare with a 2011 Clos to risk a prognosis. The recent 2008 Clos was in another league, but three years may have done the trick.
 
I like the whites very much, with the caveat that I've only had a few.

A bottle of the 2010 Breze drank over three days this spring was monumental, improving further each day. It showed a smidgeon of oak on the 1st day (only) but much less than the couple of young Rougard Breze I've tasted. No idea if it will age like Rougeard, of course.

Also had a glass of the 2010 Clos de Guichaux around the same time that was fantastic and didn't show any wood at all. Dry, great acid, but a nice core of richness down the middle and great freshness. Also enjoyed a bottle of the straight Saumur blanc from 2010.

For me the wines are a little in the style of "chenin blanc as White Burgundy", and they don't necessarily cater to my personal chenin blanc typicity bias. However I love drinking them. I am sort of a whore for lighter bodied, high acid wines with sneaky richness though.

I've yet to be moved by the reds, nothing amiss but just nothing I felt like spending that kind of coin on. But again only a couple of tastes here and there.
 
That pretty much jives with what I took away from the experience, coinwise too, and with the same caveats.

Haven't tried the Clos de Guichaux, but found this enticing (no new wood) description online:

CLOS DE GUICHAUX
The Clos de Guichaux is in Bizay, very near Brézé. The vines were replanted in 2003 with massale cuttings taken from the family's best old vines in Brézé. The vineyard is composed of a shallow clay and limestone topsoil over chalk bedrock. Whole cluster pressing. No chaptalization. Native yeast. Vinification and 10 month ageing in two to four year old large 600L barrels. Light filtration. Production 575 cases.

When you say "chenin blanc as white burgundy," do you mean the oak, or other white burg markers (like a certain popcorny butteriness found even in some that don't use oak)?
 
OK, tried the Clos de Guichaux in Aix a month ago and found it woody. The back label said it was barrique aged, so the info that they use foudres must be groundless.

So, having liked the basic white Guiberteau more than the fancies, last night I concluded the experimental cycle by opening the 2013 Guberteau Saumur Rouge.

Clocking in at 12%, this was quite good, with no trace of wood or overextraction. Vinous, balanced, and yummy.

Even though comparing across vintages and degrees of structure is tricky, I seem to prefer the basics, at least as far as Guiberteau is concerned. Good news for the wallet.
 
Sorry for the post-and-run.

By "chenin blanc as white Burgundy" I was thinking of the modern reductive style that is in fashion. Good purity of fruit and acid, moderately oaky with some richness, little to no battonage, etc.

But it's been awhile since I've tasted these. I have some 2010 whites coming so will chime in again when they show up.

The reds I've tasted have all been in the "clean, pretty but forgettable" category.
 
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