Loire Cab Franc-Based Wines

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Ian Fitzsimmons

Ian Fitzsimmons
Perfunctory notes from the Weygandt tasting several weeks ago:

Plouzeau Chinon les Cornuelles 2012

Approachable with nice woody bite and intensity. Good for the special price - bought a bottle to quaff with the Frau on a weeknight.

Plouzeau Chinon les Clos 2011

Likewise, but a bit more of everything.

Fosse-Seche Saumur Eolithe 2011

Aromatic; a bit rough, but good. Wants time. Good sincerity.

Amirault Bourgueil la Coudraye 2012

Intense, tannic, cherry. Woody-barky notes dialed back, relative to previous wines.

Amirault Saint-Nicolas-de-Borugueil la Mine 2012

Floral aromas. Tannins dominate, fruit is down low. Persistent acidity, bit of brett? A little unfocused.

Amirault Bourgueil les Quartiers 2011

Stone and varnish. Rubby tannins, more refined than in la Mine. Very dry feel. Fruit down low, low.

Amirault Bourgeuil le Grand Clos 2010

Relatively smooth, mild fruit. Distinguished by its balance. Promising.

Amirault Bourgueil la Petite Cave 2011

Stony aromas, tannins. Heavy, aggressive, drying tannins. Hard to read.

Amirault Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil les Malgagnes 2010

Wow. Insane building intensity of tannins and acids with deep reserve of fruit underneath. Burly and big.

Folie Lucé Saumur-Champigny Autrement 2010

Stylistically much prettier, more flattering than the previous wines, with no obvious spoof. Good acidity, tannins in check, though still pleasingly intense. Balance. Without food, the most obviously civilized of these wild wines.

Folie Lucé Saumur-Champigny Autrement 2009

More tannins than the '10, mildly pruney; less balance and focus, with a weaker undercarriage.

I brought an 02 Taluau St. Nicolas de Bourgeuil myself, but it seemed beside the point, in the context of this formidable selection. We extracted a few glassfuls with a Coravin: it was surprisingly supple in texture, still tightly-wound, with a delicious green-olive aroma.

I observe in passing that these Loire CF wines, more than any other reds - in my humble experience - require accompanying food to show their more spectacular side. Each of the wines poured was good to excellent in its price range, and a tasting like this makes me once again appreciate the popularity of Bordeaux.

The Amirault Malganges stole the face right off of my head, so I bought a few bottles. With more resources at my disposal, I'd've also been inclined to rescue some Amirault Grand Clos and Quartiers, and some Fosse-Seche. I was impressed by the 2010 Folie Lucé, too; but such a smooth wine from this area seems somehow like cheating.

Thanks to Tim and Warren for their ever-genial hospitality and old-world-style courtesy.
 
Hi Ian,

We tasted your 02 Talau there and then at home from our cellar. It still seemed tight. The 96 is the one to open these days, at least for us.

I bought both the 09 and the 10 Folie Lucé last fall, under my ongoing principle, that if I like I wine, I shouldn't give myself principled reasons not to like it. I do plan to hold on to bottles to see what happens. I also bought the Amirault Malganges.

My take away though was that I'm being too snooty limiting myself to the Plouzeau Ante-Phyloxera. His line-up of much less expensive wine is pretty damn good.
 
We opened the Coravin'd bottle later in the week: was excellent at first, but degraded fairly rapidly and fell out of balance. Not bad, but not up to its initial headlines.
 
We visited the winery in 2010 (report in here somewhere) and the 2008 Malgagnes was the star of the line up. Later I bought two bottles stateside, one of which, opened with Joe and Sharon, was a big disappointment, very oaky. I'm waiting a few more years to open the second, but don't have high hopes. Definitely felt/feels like bait and switch.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
We visited the winery in 2010 (report in here somewhere) and the 2008 Malgagnes was the star of the line up. Later I bought two bottles stateside, one of which, opened with Joe and Sharon, was a big disappointment, very oaky. I'm waiting a few more years to open the second, but don't have high hopes. Definitely felt/feels like bait and switch.
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Maybe it wasn't the Malganges I bought. I'll have to check when I get back. Some of the Amirault wines did have noticeable oak. The one I got said it didn't use it, and I didn't taste it (but, of course, the fact that I didn't taste it means only that).
 
What annoyed me was the difference between the no-noticeable-oak winery bottle and the quite oaky purchased ones. BTW, it's Malgagnes, Malganges being the disease one gets from bathing in the Ganges.
 
Jonathan - I think Warren said you'd bought the same wine (Malgagnes) when I went back in for my purchase.

I didn't get new oak tastes or smells in any of these wines. The Amirault site says: "Much investment has been made in the cellars in recent years with purchases of large tronconic oak casks as well as barrels of 400 litre capacicty to reduce the influence of oak ageing," which doesn't bespeak a pronounced desire to oak these wines heavily.

You present as a bit of a Quercusophobe, Oswaldo - I wonder if you have a special sensitivity to the stuff.
 
re loire cabernet franc. . .from charles neal selections, chateau hureau saumur champigny offerings (tuffe, fours a chaux) are really great stuff, and should retail in the $19/btl range, batting way above their pedigree.
 
Malgagnes it is, both the spelling and what I bought then. I didn't taste oak on it and I'm therefore happy to read what Ian quotes.

I do remember wines in that tasting with oak. Were they none of them Amirault? It would surprise me if any of them were Plouzeaus.
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
I didn't get new oak tastes or smells in any of these wines. The Amirault site says: "Much investment has been made in the cellars in recent years with purchases of large tronconic oak casks as well as barrels of 400 litre capacicty to reduce the influence of oak ageing," which doesn't bespeak a pronounced desire to oak these wines heavily.

You present as a bit of a Quercusophobe, Oswaldo - I wonder if you have a special sensitivity to the stuff.
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My sensitivity is run of the mill, only the esthetics are pronounced.

btw, I am only speaking about/to the 2008.
 
They do show oak when younger, but these wines age beautifully. I'm not a disinterested party as I import them. Quartiers and Grand Clos are my favourites, year-in, year-out.
 
Yeah, I think I'm going back for the Grand Clos; and maybe Quartiers, too, down the road. The memory has stayed with me.

I'm with Robert on Hureau. The wines I've had from there have been fab; everything he writes.

Oswaldo, how would you know whether your sensitivity is pronounced or not?

Jura tasting scheduled for this weekend ...
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Oswaldo, how would you know whether your sensitivity is pronounced or not?
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When tasting with others, they generally notice the presence oak as much as I do, but it annoys me far more than it does them, if at all. So it's not greater sensitivity as much as deliberate intolerance for what doesn't come from the vine itself.
 
That's persuasive.

I guess I think of modest oaking as comparable to deft seasoning in some foods. But it sounds like what you were getting from the Malganges was excessive. Still, I'll place bets on my own tasting faculty, buttressed by the margin of comfort Yixin's endorsement offers.
 
If one accepts oak vanilla in wine, even as deft seasoning, where would it all end? Soon, people will be adding allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon. A principled man, a man of honor, must draw a line in the sand and say no to additives. Down, boys, down!
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
I'm with Robert on Hureau. The wines I've had from there have been fab; everything he writes.
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Drank a couple of their 96 Coteaux de Saumur last year. Amazingly vibrant for a wine that probably sold for next to nothing back in the day.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
If one accepts oak vanilla in wine, even as deft seasoning, where would it all end? Soon, people will be adding allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon. A principled man, a man of honor, must draw a line in the sand and say no to additives. Down, boys, down!
Click to expand...

What about

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