Ben says
★★★ Outstanding “Brick colour mixed with ruby. Bright cherry and red plum nose, despite maturity. This is Cabernet Franc mastered and one of those moments when you drink a wine that feels like a moment captured in time. Dried berries mingle with lightly smoked tannins and fresh, ripe and elegant fruit. It’s both light and viscous. The finish is long and moreish but bright.”
KEY POINTS
Cabernet Franc with 12.5% abv. Grown on gravel over limestone; matured for 30 months in cement tanks.
Grown in: Chinon, Loire Valley, FRANCE.
Food Pairing
The intensity of flavour but lightness of body means this is a nice pairing with game dishes, by way of complementing them as opposed to leaving you fat and bereft. Nevertheless, you’ll elevate some of the sweeter fruit and the tannin structure from the Cab Franc alongside mushrooms, so a woodland-flavoured mushroom tartlet would be a lovely bite to enjoy while you polish off this truly exceptional wine.
Disclosure & Price
Tasted at the Beckford Bottle Shop annual tasting.
£29.50 Beckford Bottle Shop, Bath.
Reviewed and tasted: 5 November 2022
About the Producer
Johann Spelty is the fifth generation winemaker to take over the Loire estate, after getting his oenology and viticulture degree. He inherited 15 hectares of vines in 1997 and converted it to organic in 2011. All of his estate is hand harvested and, like so many French winemakers, he practises low intervention to best reflect the terroir of his wines.
