Le Petit Saint Vincent, Saumur-Champigny “Pélo”

When the Loire Valley’s Clos Rougeard, long run by publicity-shy brothers Charlie and Nady Foucault, was sold to the billionaire owners of Château Montrose in 2017, the relatively obscure Saumur-Champigny appellation had a spotlight on it like it never had before. Who else could wine geeks look to for similarly ethereal, cellar-worthy Cabernet Franc at an accessible price, now that Clos Rougeard had jumped the shark? Our vote was, and still is, Dominique Joseph of Le Petit Saint Vincent.I’ll admit that I only had my first sip of today’s wine, “Pélo,” a few vintages ago, and I suspect a lot of US consumers, if they know Joseph and his wines at all, would say the same. But while Le Petit Saint-Vincent (a Clos Rougeard neighbor, by the way) might be a relatively “new” sensation in our market, Dominique is hardly some plucky upstart: He’s got 28 vintages under his belt, and draws on a generations-deep family history of grape-growing and winemaking in Saumur-Champigny. “Pélo” happens to be