TN: 2014 Domaine des Roches Neuves Saumur-Champigny Les Mémoires

A truly special vineyard. Literally one of the oldest in Loire Cab Franc, just behind Marc Plouzeau’s Ante Phylloxera cuvee. Vines over 110 years old, gnarled and thick like tree trunks. Some ungrafted. We are tasting wine from the 1800s, stylistically, one can imagine.

Tremendously floral on the nose. Wild red fruits, dry herbs, green peppercorn, petrichor. A really aromatic wine. Great palate intensity on a mid-weight frame, crunchy red fruits, from cranberries to wild red raspberries, perhaps a tinge of ripe strawberry. A really pure, crystalline presentation. Hard to nit when it is this good, but it does not have the funk, tobacco and bell pepper that one commonly associates with traditional Loire Cab Franc. This is not Raffault or Lenoir. It’s next generation Loire CF, but not modern. This is not a glossy wine. It’s actually quite traditional, with impeccable balance, alcohol and oak in check - actually, like not even present - and restrained while exuberant, if that makes any sense. Has a nervous energy that is palpable. Still young, still relatively primary, some structure needing to soften, but this is an excellent showing. We had a thread going by Julian on the classification of Loire CF. This is full-on Second Growth quality. So amazingly fresh.

(93 pts.).

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Terrific, how much a bottle?

New releases are $65+. Can’t recall what I paid for this 2014. Pricey for Loire. Try the Franc de Pied cuvée. Excellent as well and less expensive.

That is one nice note. Really well done. I recently had the '15 Terres Chaudes and was really smitten by it. I am paying more attention to Roches Neuves now. Would like to try this one!

I should’ve grabbed a couple when there was a winebid dump. I did grab some 2015 fdp though

That’s really interesting, thanks for posting. You describe the sensations well - on the basis of the three (other cuvées, other vintages) I’ve tried so far, I totally agree with you. I suppose you could say Roches-Neuves wines are post-modern, in that they’re not oaky and sweet at all, but not traditional either. All the strong aromatics and crunchy red fruit are typical of organic wines - there’s an obvious similarity with Clos du Jaugueyron for example, not in the taste but the style. Your bottle sounds better than mine have been, which is great since I’ve got one!
My one quibble is the price - generally around 35 euros, with the FDP at around 30€ over here - which is the same level as Joguet wines, or Baudry’s Croix de Boissée, or if one likes the style, a little more than Alliet’s Coteau de Noiré. And when you think that Raffault’s Les Picasses are half the price, it does become problematic. But Roches-Neuves are fun to try and offer a totally different taste to all the others.

Had this under a Repour and in the fridge since Friday, tapped it again tonight. Fantastic wine. Tons of energy and very mineral inflected. Buzzes.

Thanks for the note. Do have some ‘16 and ‘17 vintages of this wine but have never tasted any.

I haven’t tried this vineyard but I have tried their more basic bottling. These are wines that would be of interest to that other thread about fruit forward being a marker(or not) for ‘modern’ wines. I found a lot of extraction/density in my last go with this producer. Not in a hollow or well oaked way. Just lots of fruit. Especially in comparison to most producers in the region.

I hope to try something from this vineyard.

100%

I also find if you drink up the range to their top cuvees, however, the more traditional the overall package seems even with the very forward and correctly ripe fruit, this cuvee and the Franc de Pied in particular.