Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume 2017

Professional Ratings

• 97 Wine & Spirits

  The Baumards farm 15 acres of terraced, 35-year-old vines in Quarts des Chaume on the steep, south facing hillside above the Layon river. Spring frosts reduced their yields by about 60 percent, and what remained fermented all in stainless, and produced something spectular. This wine’s aromas are coy, hinting at a jam made with an Edenic bounty: apricot, peach, pear and ginger with a floral edge. Then a taste completely fills your head, tucking that bounty of fruit into every corner of your skull until it feels like your brain is cushioned in a cloud. There’s sweetness, yes, but it’s just a brown-sugar depth rather than a driving force in the wine. You might pour this with funky, soft cheeses at the end of a meal or alongside a main course of roasted duck with red-wine-braised pears and charred greens. But it’s also vibrant enough to drink on its own long into the night

• 94 Wine Spectator
  This unctuous white shows a myriad of flavors, with hints of matchstick weaving through the glazed yellow apple, plum, and pineapple flavors, flanked with blanched almond, mineral, honeysuckle and chamomile accents. Crystalized ginger and herb notes echo on the long finish. Drink now through 2036.