Sébastien Brunet is one of the few Vouvray producers who successfully walks the tightrope between the old school and the new. All his wines are hand-harvested, organically grown without chemicals, herbicides, or pesticides, fermented with native yeast, and bottled with low sulfite levels. But his wines are also impeccably clean; there’s no funk or unwanted oxidation to be found here. 

“Arpent” is pressed slowly and gently to preserve elegance and purity. After a months-long spontaneous fermentation in a mix of old oak and stainless steel, the wine is entirely transferred into neutral French barrels for six months. It was bottled unfined. 

The 2019 vintage was a perfect year to truly comprehend what Brunet’s wines are capable of: This is bone-dry with sizzling minerality and acidity. Taut aromas and flavors dominate the senses in the form of grilled lemon, apricot, freshly picked green apple, white stone, and struck flint. And while this is built for both youthful drinking and extended aging, the real sommelier secret is its ability to evolve after opening the bottle. It’s a fascinating wine to consume slowly: Drinking this wine over 2-3 days will reveal a kaleidoscopic range of evolution, from bright and tense to savory and complex to bruised and mellow. Few <$30 Vouvray bottlings deliver this much profundity!