Chateau Soucherie Rose de Loire 'L’Astree' 2022

This grand château sits atop a hill overlooking the entire swath of the Côteaux du Layon appellation as it ambles downward toward snaking Layon tributary to the Loire River. Through a change in ownership and a few changes in winemaking personnel over the past decade, this estate’s wines have found their footing as intensely mineral, deeply typical evocations of Côteaux du Layon, Savennières, and Anjou, and their evolution toward organic viticulture—now certified as such—has ratcheted up the wines’ expressiveness and dynamism. The Rosé de Loire “L’Astrée” is 100% Gamay—a variety whose occasional tendency toward shapelessness is counterbalanced by this cool microclimate—and this is a wine of ethereally pale color and juicy but controlled fruit, pressed directly and aged for four months in stainless steel.