Firstly, apologies for this wine's making its appearance a day later than the usual Tuesday. My trusty laptop expired on Monday, causing untold havoc and heartache. RIP HP Omnibook 500. Sniff.
Now, what could be more consoling yet beguilingly summery than a seriously good sweet Chenin Blanc from the heart of the Loire Valley? That pure acidity is so extraordinarily refreshing in any kind of weather and yet if there is sufficient sweetness and no excess of sulfur, these wines are so magical that can make sweet whites from further south in France taste positively clod-hopping. I tasted this recently alongside Bruno Bilancini's famous Monbazillac Ch Tirecul La Gravière 2000 and it did the Monbazillac no favours – made it look almost flabby in fact.
Claude Papin of Ch Pierre Bise is one of the most talented wine growers in this part of the world, a true vine technician, and has proved it over the long term. The very worthwhile site www.thewinedoctor.com has an excellent profile of him. For years he has kept the fruit grown on his various soil types separate and L'Anclaie is the bottling from late-picked Chenin grown on schist. (Given my enthusiasm for Priorat and the wines grown in the Agly Valley, this is sclearly one of my favourite soil types.) L'Anclaie is nothing like Le Soula but is certainly wonderfully nerveux yet throbs with fruit and life.
I caught M. Papin on the phone just as he was setting off for his summer holidays in the Ardèche and asked him about this particular wine. The grapes were not touched until 05 Nov (Bonfire Night – so late!) and then two passages through the vineyard were enough to deliver grapes with a potential alcohol of 24 per cent. He knows that a great fuss has been made of the 2001 vintage by many Loire producers but personally rates it as somewhere between 1995 and 1997. He reckons his 2001 Anclaie is not as powerful as his 1995 (which notched up 26 per cent potential alcohol) and he knows it was not quite as heavily botrytised (even though there is considerable botrytis influence on the nose). The 1997 was less powerful than the 2001 and contained a higher proportion of grapes that owed their sweetness to being dried on the vine rather than botrytis. For him, 2001 is a vintage of great delicacy and balance.
I'd second that, and would after all be foolish to dispute it. My only note of caution is that, like so many sweet wines, this is one to sip on its own rather than match to food that could potentially subdue its delicately honeyed unctuosity, or exaggerate its acidity. This alone would be a perfect dessert.
The wine can be bought for £12.95 per 50cl bottle (a sensible size for sweet wines) from Lea & Sandeman shops in London, and within France – not least from the domaine itself on tel +33 2 41 78 31 44 – once the Papins return from their holiday.