Vouvray sec 2024 Clos Naudin - Vincent Foreau | Loire

Description: 2024 Dry Vouvray | Clos Naudin - Vincent Foreau

Clos Naudin’s 2024 dry Vouvray is one of the Loire Valley’s finest wines. Vincent Foreau manages this family-owned wine estate in Vouvray with a quiet rigor passed down through several generations. Clos Naudin holds a unique place within the appellation: its dry wines, often overlooked in the shadow of its famous demi-sec and moelleux wines, nevertheless shine for their precision and authenticity.

Terroir and Grape Varieties

The vineyard sits on a soil of tuffeau andflint-rich clay, two substrates characteristic of the Vouvray plateau in Touraine. Tuffeau, a porous and cool chalk, retains moisture deep in the soil, while the flint-rich clay imparts the wine’s mineral tension and liveliness. This terroir shapes a crystalline, uncompromising wine, and the Chenin grape expresses a purity here that is rarely found elsewhere in the region.

Viticulture and Winemaking

The grapes are harvested by hand, a necessary step to preserve the integrity of the berries and ensure careful selection. Fermentation takes place in 300-liter barrels using indigenous yeasts, without chaptalization or acidification. Malolactic fermentation is halted, which preserves the Chenin’s natural acidity and its characteristic tension. Ageing lasts 6 months in old barrels (less than 5% new oak): the oak provides support without imposing its character. SO₂ is used in minimal quantities. The approach is consistent from start to finish.

2024 Dry Vouvray | Clos Naudin - Vincent Foreau: The Sommelier’s Review

Philippe Mischler, sommelier at Mundovin

The dry Vouvray is often—and wrongly—considered the least impressive part of the Clos Naudin range, overshadowed by the demi-sec or sweet vintages that have made the wine estate legendary. This is a misjudgment. In this vintage, the balance between acidic tension and aromatic liveliness hints at excellent ageing potential. I expect it to reach its peak drinking period between 2028 and 2036, when the fruit and the flinty minerality will have fully integrated. At that stage, serving it at 12°C, without decanting, alongside a dish of fine fish with pronounced vegetal notes will reveal its dazzling character.

The Nose

The nose opens with notes of white flowers and fresh pear, with a hint of quince. Behind these, a mineral character reminiscent of sun-warmed flint emerges clearly, without overshadowing the generously fruity aromas. It is a precise nose, still somewhat reserved, that will blossom with time.

The palate

On the palate, the refined texture unfolds its acidic structure with an almost incisive liveliness. The wine seems straightforward, as if carved from rock, yet the fruity flavors are very much present, coating the palate with an enveloping texture and a minerality with salty accents. This mouth-watering salinity lingers pleasantly on the slightly lemony finish.

Vouvray: Everything You Need to Know About This Appellation

Vouvray is a Loire Valley appellation located east of Tours, on the right bank of the Loire River. It relies exclusively on Chenin, a capricious yet versatile grape variety that thrives here on soils of flint, tuffeau, and perruches (flint-rich clay mixed with sandstone). The appellation produces wines across the entire spectrum of sweetness: dry, off-dry, sweet, and even sparkling.

Clos Naudin’s dry Vouvray sits at the most austere end of the appellation’s spectrum. Where other producers seek roundness or sweetness, Vincent Foreau embraces a verticality that is rare in Touraine.