Thibaud Boudignon

“Thibaud Boudignon works some of the most exciting vineyards in the entire appellation, and is one of its most convincing young vignerons, producing a thrilling range of wines.“ thewinedoctor.com (THE best web-site for Loire Valley information on the best producers and wines)

“Thibaud Boudignon is a recent entry to Savennières, having started his project in 2009, but oh, my, the purity of his wines is impeccable. The three Savennières – La Vigne Cendrée, Clos de Fremine and Clos de la Hutte – have their own personalities. The transparency and harnessed power of these wines offer a contrast to the bigger, bolder Savennières styles. It may only be a young domaine, but the clarity of the wines made from these young vines is truly exciting. I look forward to the vines maturing further.“ Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous Media, March 2021

Thibaud Boudignon approaches each vintage with spectacular precision and dedication. Achieving good ripeness despite some difficult vintages in recent years and producing excellent wines, he offers wines of purity, tension and finesse with virtually no rivals in Savennières. Their depth and density reveal the fantastic terroirs of Clos de Frémine and Clos de la Hutte, located in La Possonière, a historic part of the appellation that has unfortunately seen some urban encroachment. Boudignon patiently waits for full grape maturity before harvesting and practices gentle, slow pressing during vinification. He ages all his wine in barrels or foudres from notable cooperages, such as Chassin, Gauthier Frères, Taransaud, Atelier Centre France and Rousseau. Robert Parkers The Wine Advocate, January 2024

Thibaud Boudignon is one of the new young stars of the Loire Valley based in Savennieres. He also owns two small vineyards across the river on the south side of the Loire in the Anjou. Having worked with some of the great estates of Burgundy, Bordeaux, Loire and also in Australia, Thibaud has built a wealth of experience without having been born into a wine producing family. In 2008 he decided to establish his own estate in Savennieres beginning with 3.5 ha of old vines planted on exceptional terroirs in Anjou and Savennieres.

Now with a total of 7.5 hectares of vines he has gradually bought and planted several prime parcels in the small Savennieres appellation including a 0.5ha parcel called La Vigne Cendrée (planted with massale selection vines in 2015) which borders Baumard's Clos St Yves vineyard (not far from the famous La Roche-aux-Moines vineyard). He has also planted another vineyard, Le Clos de Fremine, just south of Savennieres near the village of La Possonnière with sandy soil and across the road is his main vineyard Clos de la Hutte beside which he has built a remarkable small and modern winery which has its temperature and humidity regulated by a thermal energy system which is buried below the ground around the winery.

In 2020 he started to plant the vineyard called Clos Devant le Jeu just down the tiny lane from Le Clos de Fremine. The soil in Clos Devant le Jeu shows a lot of grey schist with a darker profile compared to the finer sandier soil of Clos de Fremine. The remaining half of this vineyard was planted in 2023 making 2 ha in this vineyard. All vines are planted from a variety of massale selection coming from some of the best estates of the Loire giving very small berries and yields.

Clos de la Hutte was historically regarded among the best sites of the appellation and had been an old religious site. Thibaud is aiming to bring this historically highly regarded site back to prominence so that it might sit alongside Roche aux Moines and Coulee de Serrant as one of the future Grand cru vineyards in Savennieres in years to come. Within the the Clos de la Hutte vineyard he has close-planted un-grafted franc de pied vines on the highest sandiest part of that vineyard from which he will soon release another wine. Given the small size of the winery it is clear that he intends to concentrate on small quantities so these wines will always remain very confidential in quantity. The small winery itself is remarkable as he is able to precisely control temperature and humidity by thermal regulation from a vast system buried in the ground surrounding the winery enabling optimum temperature and humidity all throughout the year.

Working biodynamically in the vineyards, during the growing season he employs one person per hectare to manage the vines. In the winery the grapes are whole bunch pressed with no settling and the juice kept cold before starting a long slow fermentation. He vinifies with natural yeasts and ages the wines on lees with minimal SO2 in a mixture of barrels ranging from 300-600 litres. There are hogsheads, cigares, puncheons and small 600 litre foudres from the highly regarded Austrian cooper, Stockinger. Ultimately though, new oak influence is not a part of the style sought, resulting in wines of striking purity, depth and intensity, with each wine clearly reflecting its particular terroir. These are really profound wines with terrific freshness and structure that have the capacity to age well for many years.

All the white wines are 100% Chenin Blanc. Availability is very limited and the wines tend to sell out quickly each year. These are simply some of the most remarkable wines we represent.

The following wines due mid 2024.

2023 Rosé de Loire
2022 Anjou Blanc (grey label)
2022 Savennières Le Clos de Frémine
2021 Savennières Clos de la Hutte
2021 Savennières Clos de la Hutte franc de pied (ungrafted vines - massale selection)

WINE NOTES AND REVIEWS

2022 Rosé de Loire
Substantially Cabernet Franc (80%), with some Grolleau (20%), from 25+ year-old vines, grown on shallow soils of grey schist, rhyolite and sand. Cool-fermented in stainless steel with native yeasts for 2-3 weeks, followed by maturation in tank for 4 to 6 months before bottling. Malolactic conversion is inhibited to produce a fresh, vibrant, yet textural rosé, with good length and intriguing mineral complexity. Vibrant pink colour, this rose is made by direct pressing and vinified like a white wine to capture salinity and structure. No malo, yet lovely texture and tension, finishing dry.
The following review for 2021 vintage (2022 not yet reviewed) ‘Limpid orange. Vibrant mineral and spice tinged strawberry and orange zest aromas show fine definition and a building floral nuance. Shows firm tension and cut on the palate, offering intense citrus fruit and red berry character and a suggestion of botanical herbs. Finishes very long and precise, with the floral and mineral notes repeating.’ 92 points, Josh Raynolds, Vinous, June 2022.

2022 Anjou Blanc - due mid 2024
From 40 year-old vines, planted at 8000 vines/ha on shallow soils of grey schist and rhyolite. Fermented in stainless steel with native yeasts for 2-3 weeks, followed by maturation in 300L and 750L barrels (30% new) for 15-18 months. Since Thibaud has moved into his new winery just 2 years ago this wine has moved up a few notches in depth and complexity. The oak integration is now perfect to the point of being invisible serving only to add another layer to the tight citric core of fruit. This is pure pleasure from the first taste. To be enjoyed in the first 5 or so years. This wine pushes the boundaries of Anjou in a very positive direction, the resulting wines are crystalline pure.

The 2022 Anjou Blanc from Thibaud Boudignon reveals a perfumed, exotic bouquet with aromas of green mango, pineapple, pear and spices intertwined with a touch of toast. More depth and fleshier than the 2021, it’s medium-bodied, perfectly balanced with a seamless, layered texture and a delicately bitter finish. 30,000 bottles produced.
93 points, thewineadvocate.com, January 2024

2021 Savennières Le Clos de Frémine - due 2024
This site adjoins Clos de la Hutte separated only by stone walls surrounding each Clos and a tiny road between and is planted to 1.5ha of vines from massale selection the original material coming from vines of more than 100 years old. Sloping towards the Loire with a fine cover of sand blown over the underlying schist over many millenia, this conveys a silky elegance to the resulting wine giving this wine more immediacy enabling this wine to be appreciated in its youth. Distinctive, pure and utterly compelling.
The 2021 Savennières Clos de Frémine opens with aromas of pear, rose, green mango, ripe orchard fruits and spring flowers. It is a full-bodied, intense and bright wine with a chiseled, crystalline, elegantly tense palate. The flinty structuring extract adds a unique character to the wine, and its pure minerality is impressive. Hide bottles for seven to eight years and enjoy over the following decades. 95 points, thewineadvocate.com, January 2024

A cooler vintage which has produced in Clos de Frémine a wine shimmering with fragrant aromas of orange zest and honeysuckle, partnered by layers of crystalline peach, green pear and a seam of exotic fruits including lychee and clementine. The palate continues with this flavour profile but wraps it up in ribbons of salt, menthol, honeysuckle and wild flowers, along with fine-grained minerals and a deliciously tense and poised structure. It finishes saline and bright, with a citrus energy and floral notes too. Great balance and pristine elegance. Top-notch, a Savennières of real beauty. The alcohol is 11.5% on the label. 93 points, Chris Kissack, thewinedoctor.com, November 2023

2021 Savennières Clos de la Hutte - due mid-2024
Situated in the commune of La Possonnière, the Clos de la Hutte is an ancient religious site of 7 hectares, of which 2.6 are planted with vines. At the heart of this ancient monastery are vines produced from a massal selection of Chenin Blanc coming from the best domaines of the Loire. 5 different varieties of Chenin were planted together so as to best express the intensity and singularity of this special place. There is also a small part of this vineyard planted ungrafted on its own root-stock so in coming years there will a Franc de Pied version of Clos de la Hutte.
50% vinified in oval demi muid, 25% in 320 liter cigars, and 25% in 500 liter. The ageing lasts one year in wood and a minimum of 3 months in stainless steel. The Clos de la Hutte seduces with its aromatic finesse and the intense minerality in the mouth. A great terroir with the solid schist mother rock close to the surface, it combines the qualities of the other parcels : great aromatic precision and obvious minerality, perfect balance between mineral and richness, nothing austere with a complex nose of gun-flint, the citrus notes, a mouth that is sharp and precise, an aerien and salty finish.

Matured with 30% new oak, the 2021 Savennières Clos de la Hutte was made with grapes grown in clay topsoil with schists. It exhales a perfumed, precise bouquet with aromas of pineapple, lemon oil, spring flowers and spices. The full-bodied, seamless and layered, crystalline and pure, concentrated and mineral palate has a delicate core of fruit and a tense, saline finish. This pristine wine represents the essence of this great terroir. 97 points, thewineadvocate.com, January 2024

A difficult vintage which brought eight nights of frost to the region, and later on there were significant problems with mildew. “We had to fight for the crop, but we saved everything,” says Thibaud. Aromatically this is nothing short of an explosion of minerals, expressing effusive notes of crushed flint, settling over a delicate but clearly defined bed of orange zest, honeysuckle and peach. There is a firmly reductive style here which only serves to enhance the flinty minerality. The palate is surprisingly textured, sinewy and bright, with delicious white peach skin, mint, freesia and honeysuckle, cut with firm mineral and acid veins. Beautifully formed, with great drive and mineral precision, this is simply astonishing. To be bottled later in 2023. The alcohol is about 12%. (93-95) points, Chris Kissack, thewinedoctor.com, February 2023

2021 Savennières Clos de la Hutte Franc de Pied - due mid-2024
Within the Clos de la Hutte is a small parcel of close planted ungrated vines situated on the highest and sandiest soil of this smalll vineyard. Produced for the first time on 2020 (one small wine globe), this second vintage is aged half in glass wine globe and half in wooden foudre. Showing excellent purity density and concentration covering the wines immense structure. Extremely long finish, and extremely rare. He expects that the phylloxera louse will eventually attack the root system of these vines. Get this quickly before phylloxera does its worst.

Vinified 50% in wine globes and 50% in foudres, the 2021 Franc de Pied, crafted from ungrafted vines situated within the Clos de la Butte parcel, reveals a lively, fresh bouquet with aromas of licorice, menthol, spring flowers and lemon oil. Medium to full-bodied, concentrated and seamless, it’s incisive and tense with a long, fresh, delicate finish. It is denser and less mineral than the 2021 Clos de la Hutte and has real aging potential. 95 points, thewineadvocate.com, January 2024

A cuvée from the microscopic parcel of ungrafted vines within Clos de la Hutte. This was the second vintage Thibaud has vinified in wine globe, and he now feels that he prefers this method. He expanded from just one 2-hectolitre globe in the 2020 vintage to a volume of 4 hectolitres in two globes in this vintage. The aromatics here are delightfully perfumed, with layers of white peach, verbena, mint, smoke and candlewax. There is a sense of purity here and it also comes across on the palate, with its perfumed, poised and polished state, great tension and precision, and wonderful length too. Precise, floral with sweet peach and lightly bitter streaks. Incredible focus and polish here. To be bottled later in 2023. The alcohol is between 11% an 12%. 95 points, Chris Kissack, thewinedoctor.com, February 2023

2020 Savennières Clos de la Hutte
Situated in the commune of La Possonnière, the Clos de la Hutte is an ancient religious site of 7 hectares, of which 2.6 are planted with vines. At the heart of this ancient monastery are vines produced from a massal selection of Chenin Blanc coming from the best domaines of the Loire. 5 different varieties of Chenin were planted together so as to best express the intensity and singularity of this special place. There is also a small part of this vineyard planted ungrafted on its own root-stock so in coming years there will a Franc de Pied version of Clos de la Hutte.
50% vinified in oval demi muid, 25% in 320 liter cigars, and 25% in 500 liter. The ageing lasts one year in wood and a minimum of 3 months in stainless steel. The Clos de la Hutte seduces with its aromatic finesse and the intense minerality in the mouth. A great terroir with the solid schist mother rock close to the surface, it combines the qualities of the other parcels : great aromatic precision and obvious minerality, perfect balance between mineral and richness, nothing austere with a complex nose of gun-flint, the citrus notes, a mouth that is sharp and precise, an aerien and salty finish.
This has seen out at élevage in oak for 18 months, followed by another 8 months in bottle, before they were released for sale. This was, for Thibaud, the first vintage when he was also to focus exclusively on his own winery without thinking about his work at Clos de Soucherie. This is rich in aromatic and waxy peach, with layers of crushed flint minerals, primrose and verbena. The palate is just divine, textured and savoury, infused with lightly bitter peach skin, pear, orange pith, aniseed and fennel, all cut with brilliant mineral and acid veins. Intense yet focused, with balanced minerality. Exceptional quality, depth and focus here. A truly stunning example of Savennières. Fabulous, so long too, with a tingling sense of conviction, eager to please and yet cerebral. It brims with cellar potential. The alcohol on the label is 12.5%. 96 points, Chris Kissack, thewinedoctor.com, November 2023

The 2020 Clos de la Hutte is a wine that makes your shoulders drop such is its tranquility and sense of comfort in your mouth. It blooms in the mouth and does so without any sense of heaviness. The finish, scented with flowers and nectarines, is long, fragrant and textural. I hate using the word minerality as it means so many different things to people, but in my opinion, this has it in spades. It is incredible that the vines were only planted in 2011 on the schistous site on the grounds of a former monastery. Aged in larger format barrels, there’s no sense of oakiness, allowing the purity of this wine to shine bright. 96 points, Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous Media, June 2022

Pale gold in the glass, this wine smells of wet stone, tree blossoms, lemon pith, and grapefruit. In the mouth, incredibly silky flavors of lemon pith, lemon oil, unripe pear, acacia blossom, and quince have a cistern-like minerality with deep stony depths. Incredible acidity, great length. One of the best mouthfuls of Chenin Blanc I have had in a long time. This wine ages in 30% new oak of various sizes for 18 months before spending another year in the bottle before release. 12.5% alcohol. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Vinography, Alder Yarrow, August 2022

The following wines due early/mid 2025.

2024 Rosé de Loire
2023 Anjou Blanc (grey label)
2021 Anjou Blanc à Françoise
2023 Savennières Le Clos de Frémine
2021 Savennières La Vigne Cendrée
2022 Savennières Clos de la Hutte

2021 Anjou Blanc à François(e)… - due mid-2025
Starting with 2021 vintage this cuvee will be aged for two extra years.
From a parcel of 40 year-old vines in St-Lambert-du-Lattay, planted at 8000 vines/ha on shallow soils of grey schist and rhyolite. Native yeast fermented in wood including some 300L cigares, used to build lees complexity. Maturation in these and 700L demi-muids (30% new) for 15–18 months. Named in honour of his mother Françoise, who passed away when Thibaud was 17, and his father François. This is chenin blanc at its most electric, so long and focussed yet detailed and with explosive power. Anjou has come of age with this wine - this is a wine to sit comfortably alongside more famous appellations and producers. If you can find more profound chenin than this be sure to let us know.

Crafted from the Les Gats parcel, which is a pebbly soil with clay and volcanic rock, the 2021 Anjou Blanc à François(e)..., a tribute to his mother and grandfather, offers up a solar, exuberant bouquet with aromas of pineapple, exotic fruits, menthol, sage and ripe orchard fruits. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and concentrated, it’s perfectly balanced with racy acids and a satiny texture that finishes long, saline and penetrating. This cuvée is one of the most singular of Boudignon’s range. Keep it a decade or more. 94 points, thewineadvocate.com, January 2024

2021 Savennières La Vigne Cendrée - due mid-2025
Starting with 2021 vintage this cuvee will be aged for two extra years.
This tiny site of 0.5 ha on soils of clay over purple schist and granite lies high above Chateau de Varennes not far from La Roche aux Moines. Thibaud bought and renovated this plot in 2014. This small vineyard is enclosed by trees on all sides so it is a peaceful space where one hears only the birds. "La Vigne Cendrée", in spite of its small surface is an exceptional mosaic of terroir : purple schist, granite and clay silt. Because of the clay and the southern exposition, this wine is naturally richer. Half is aged in 226 litre burgundy barrels and half in foudre, with no new wood, for 12 months. This wine is very "Burgundian" except that there is no malo resulting in a wine with great drive and length though also good texture and complexity from the ageing on lees. Just 2,000 bottles produced from this unique and tiny vineyard.

The 2021 Savennières La Vigne Cendrée, the sole parcel from Thibaud Boudignon that is located in the Savennières village, near the Roche aux Moines, offers up an austere, complex bouquet with aromas of yuzu, lemon oil, spring flowers and spices. Medium to full-bodied, seamless and complete, resonant and vibrant, it’s perfectly balanced with a long, penetrating and ethereal finish enhanced by a racy bitterness. This wine, matured only in stainless steel tanks, should see its 20th anniversary in fine form. 96 points, thewineadvocate.com, January 2024

This cuvée comes from a small collection of parcels in Savennières, not far from Les Petites Coulées, totalling just 0.5 hectares. The soils are rich in clay, and the élevage was in foudre to counter the power this brings. The aromatics are scented with peach skin, orange zest, crushed flint and salty minerals, the style suggesting great density and freshness. The palate is immediately sinewy, with great density, layers of peach skin and orange, cut with brilliant seams of minerally crushed flint, and framed with great acidity. It is floral, with nuances of peach, orange blossom, menthol and white freesia. Brilliantly long and tense in the finish, with a little vein of bitterness highlighted by a mineral grip and firm acidity of the finish. To be bottled in April this year. The alcohol is about 12%. (92-94) points, Chris Kissack, thewinedoctor.com, November 2023