2018 Arnaud Lambert Saumur St Cyr en Bourg Coulee de St Cyr

Arnaud Lambert is considered to be one of the most talented winemakers in Loire, regularly producing what are amongst the best wines in and around Saumur. Arnaud studied in Dijon and has bought that Burgundian approach to his winemaking and to expressing each vineyard site. Bio-dynamic viticulture is practiced in the vineyards, and the goal is to highlight each individual terroir and realise each vineyard sites potential.

Coulee de St Cyr is sourced from vines averaging 70 years old on about 30 cm of sandy-clay silt over limestone. Grapes are whole-bunch pressed and vinified with indigenous yeast and aged on fine lees for 12 months in a combination of new and 1-3 year-old barriques. The wine is then returned to tank for another 8 months of ageing on fine lees, bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Other Reviews....
From an east-facing 1.7-hectare plot (Les Perriéres) on top of the SCB hill, the 2018 Saumur Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg Coulée de St-Cyr opens with a deep, pure, yet intense and complex bouquet of ripe fruits intertwined with notes of crushed limestone and popcorn. Pure, refined and salty on the palate, this is a full-bodied, quite rich yet tight, fresh and persistently salty Chenin with fine yet sustainable tannins and a lot of nervy lime juice, salt and tension. This is a fantastic Chenin from limestone terroir (topped with a 50-centimeter layer of clay and salt) that is normally used for Cabernet Franc. I tasted the wine from the same bottle over 14 days, and I'd say the wine got finer and finer. Tasted in April 2021. Drink 2021 - 2038.
93 points
Stephan Reinhardt - Wine Advocate (Oct 2021)