Hints of smoked meat, snuffed candle wick, iris, black tea, quinine, and white truffle join fresh quince and apple in the nose of Baumard’s 2007 Savennieres Clos du Papillon as well as on a satin-textured palate which – like that of the corresponding “regular” bottling – retains a satisfying sense of juicy freshness. The fascinating array of bitter and smoky elements promised in the nose is delivered without exaggeration – accompanied by a wet stone undertone and persistently wafting bittersweet florality – and without arresting the flow of fresh fruit in the finish. Hints of white pepper and toasted nuts add an additional element of piquancy. There is a welcome sense of transparency and buoyancy here too often missing from this appellation, including Baumard’s renditions. This beauty ought to be worth returning to over at least the next 6-8 years. I finally had the pleasure to taste personally with Florent Baumard (for more about whose domaine and methods, consult my report in issue 172) and found him a disarmingly astute critic of his own wines whose confidence I share that the best is yet to come from this vast and already justly renowned estate. I find a freedom from bitter or coarse elements and a clarity of flavors in the more recent wines that is welcome and which, when pressed, Florent Baumard suggests might in part be attributable to increasingly selective and watchful (though not necessarily gentler) pressing. The envelope-pushing here is evident in the quality of Baumard’s relatively high-volume sparking wines, rendered from blends unfamiliar outside of the Loire. The wines I tasted five years ago were good, but only modestly-recommendable (and I elected not to publish notes on them in issue 172). The lot numbers of Baumard non-vintage sparkling wines appear on the front label in very tiny, faint letters under the words “sparkling wine,” but cannot be read without good eyesight, and not if the bottle is wet! The Baumards’ “regular” bottling of Savennieres is from their Clos St. Yves vineyard between the Clos du Papillon and Roche aux Moines, and a fact of which I was not aware when I published my notes in issue 172 is that two different labels are used interchangeably, one of which indicates the vineyard name.Importer: Ex Cellars wine Agencies, Cambridge, MA; tel. (617) 876-5105

A very spicy wine, layering honey and lychees. Opulent, ripe, wearing its richness on its sleeve. Probably for medium-term aging, but it could well surprise. Screwcap.——R.V.(6/1/2011)—— 93