Benoît Chauveau Silex Coteaux du Giennois 2023

Sharp as glass and radiantly ethereal! We have an utterly gorgeous Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc from a flinty hilltop next to uber-pricey Sancerre.

And with whites from Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé getting ever more expensive, we try to keep our eyes peeled for the broader Loire’s best-kept secrets. Enter Coteaux du Giennois. This under-the-radar appellation holds only 500 acres of vines, and winemaker Benoît Chauveau works two hilltop hectares of rare “silex” soils scattered with gleaming shards of flint. This wine, named “Silex” as a brag about the soil type… is basically baby Sancerre for a fraction of the cost. 

The 2023 bottling is sheer grace. Not an in-your-face bomb of grapefruit peel (though we like that style of Sauv Blanc, too) – but a softer, more elegant expression that balances a clean-as-glass texture, floral flutterings, mineral backbone, and fresh fruit. It opens with waxy daffodil (remember that irresistible Willy Wonka scene where Gene Wilder bites a daffodil cup?!) and white flowers, then sweetens into honeydew melon. Next comes the aqueous miracle of delicate lychee fruit, deepened by smoky gunflint courtesy of those silex soils. A hot pinch of cayenne, a blade of green grass, and a drop of Meyer lemon on the finish form an exclamation point to this incredibly pure, refreshing beauty.

For the price, this is one of the most sophisticated everyday whites you could hope to find anywhere. A little more about the “where”... the Chauveau family has been farming these lands since the 1800s, but it was Benoît who shook things up in the mid–1990s by buying out his parents and grandparents to unite their scattered parcels and focus on grapes. Magnifique! Order two for our best price, but this is so lovely, it would be silly not to get at least six and enjoy the free shipping.