I love chenin blanc, so was naturally drawn to this wine. Beau Rivage is the work of William Kelley, wine critic for Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate, and Frank Ingreselli, with the fruit sourced from Clarksburg, California.
"William Kelley’s 2018 Beau Rivage Chenin Blanc is even a touch cooler than his lovely 2017 version, as this year the wine comes in at a svelte 11.9 percent octane. Readers may recall that it is barrel-fermented and raised in older barrels for just under one year prior to bottling. The wine offers up a refined and promising nose of gooseberry, chalky soil tones, a touch of lanolin, white flowers, citrus peel and a touch of bee pollen in the upper register. On the palate the wine is crisp, tight and medium-full, with lovely soil signature, bright acids and lovely focus and grip on the nascently complex finish. Like all proper dry Chenins, this will need some bottle age to blossom from behind its girdle of acidity, but it will be a lovely wine when it opens up. Drink 2023-2035+."
91 points, John Gilman, "A View From the Cellar."
