The Domaine des Baumard Coteaux du Layon Carte d'Or 2024 is a moderately sweet Chenin Blanc from the Coteaux du Layon in the Loire Valley, built on citrus and orchard fruit rather than heavy syrup. Bright acidity keeps the sweetness in check, so it drinks far more easily than its richness suggests.

Quince, ripe pear and yellow apple lead the aromatics, with honeysuckle, dried apricot and a faint waxy character behind them. The palate follows through with candied lemon peel, white peach and a touch of ginger, all of it clean and unmasked — Baumard ferments the Carte d'Or without oak, and that decision shows in how clearly the fruit reads.

Baumard harvests as late as the season allows, picking in successive passes through the vineyard so that only the fruit worth keeping goes to press, and botrytis lends the wine a honeyed thread through the middle. Texture is silky rather than thick, and the finish is long, faintly saline and drier than expected, with the Loire acid line pulling everything back into shape.

Serve well chilled with blue cheese, a tarte tatin or poached stone fruit. It also holds its own against pâté, roast pork with apple, or a mildly spiced duck curry where a little sweetness works in your favour.

Drinking well from release and through the next ten to fifteen years, gaining marmalade, quince paste and toasted nut character as the fruit slowly turns.