Francois Chidaine Brut Nature, NV, 750ml

François Chidaine has always treated Chenin Blanc as a lens for place and time, whether still or sparkling. This bottling—Montlouis Brut Nature 2008—is a lesson in just how far that idea can go. A wine left on lees for over a decade, then disgorged without dosage, it isn’t about effervescence or fruit. It’s about resonance.

This is méthode traditionnelle stripped to its essence. No added sugar. No gloss. Just long, slow evolution in bottle, and the patience to wait until the wine was ready to speak in full sentences. What remains is bone-dry, textural, and deeply mineral—not lively so much as quietly alive.

It’s not Champagne, and doesn’t try to be. It’s something rarer: a sparkling Chenin that feels shaped by stillness, not sparkle.