Brendan Stater West: Intro to the Grapes and Wines of Saumur

By Illinois Digital News On May 12, 2023

Discover the purity and complexity of Saumur’s Chenin Blanc wines with winemaker Brendan. From the unique terroirs to the intense acidity, Brendan shares his passion for the varietal and the region. Join him on a tractor ride through Brézé vineyards as he talks about the differences between Saumur and Vouvray and why people are turning their heads to this special place in the Loire Valley. Learn about the history of off-dry wines and how the trend towards dry whites has impacted the local culture. Get a taste of the global acclaim of Saumur’s white wines, and find out why Chenin Blanc from this region rivals some of the best in the world.

Brendan Stater West’s wines are imported and distributed into Illinois by Candid Wines. To order, or inquire about availability in the state of Illinois, please visit www.candidwines.com or email us at info@candidwines.com.

Full Transcript:
Brendan, welcome! Thank you so much for taking some time out of a busy day. Where are you right now?

Right now, I am on the tractor in Brézé, in our vineyards. We’re just doing some grass management here, getting rid of the grass so that the vines can have all the nutrients that they need during the springtime.

Where is Brézé? Where is Saumur, and from a bigger picture for the wine world, why are people so interested in Saumur?

Saumur is located in the Loire Valley, extending from the center of France all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. It’s about two-thirds of the way from the beginning of the river, which is in the center, so we’re looking at being about an hour and a half to an hour 45 minutes away from the Atlantic Ocean. Saumur is a special place, and it’s a really special place that I moved to 10 years ago because the wines that are being made are full of a lot of purity, and we have a certain complexity of the terroirs that we have here that are not found in other parts of the Loire Valley. There’s a certain diversity of limestone under the topsoil that we do not have necessarily in other areas. That’s what makes it exciting. Past that, I think a lot of people are interested in turning their heads to this area because of the white wines that are especially being produced, that when tasted blind, can rival some of the top whites of France and even the world.

How does Chenin Blanc from Saumur compare to other spots in the Loire? How does this compare to, for example, Vouvray?

Saumur is interesting because it’s a varietal that shows a lot of purity and a lot of transparency in the way that it shows through the different terroirs where it’s planted. In Vouvray, there’s a lot of silex and a lot of heavier soils, whereas in Saumur, the soils are going to be a little lighter in their structure and a little bit less deep. So the vines are really going to be planted generally speaking, they should have been only under one meter of topsoil before being on the limestone. It’s going to be showing a certain brightness and a certain depth on the palate, a little bit more in an intense way, I think. That’s one way of describing it, maybe some describe it as violent because the acidity sometimes can be quite searing, and that’s because of the type of limestone that we have and the depth that we find it at.

Do you ever make anything that is off-dry for Chenin Blanc?

Historically, yes. Until about 30 years ago, there were off-dry wines being made. However, with the trend of people making really dry white wines with high acidity, in that style, it’s not something that you find anymore, and it’s no longer part of the local culture. Even in the part of the appellation, the rules of the appellation for Saumur Blanc, it’s no longer allowed to have over three grams of residual sugar, so less than off-dry.