TYDY

TYDY stands for Thierry Delaunay, the fifth generation of the Delaunay family at the helm of Domaine Joél Delaunay. A Loire specialist, Thierry sources the fruit for these wines from across the valley, some of it bought from grower friends and colleagues he has worked with for years.

The IGP Val de Loire designation is doing useful work here. It covers the whole valley rather than a single appellation, which frees a producer to blend across sub-regions or to plant a variety the local AOC rules would forbid, and it is where a lot of the Loire's honest value now sits. For a grower with contacts along six hundred kilometres of river, it is a considerable advantage.

The Loire is the coolest major wine region in France and its whites are defined by acidity: Sauvignon Blanc from the flint and limestone of the east, Chenin Blanc in the middle reaches, Melon de Bourgogne at the Atlantic end. TYDY works in that idiom, with cool stainless-steel fermentation and early bottling, and the wines are made to be drunk young while the fruit is at its most direct.