John is that you?
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Back on wine after a hiatus due to dental work and accompanying antibiotics, I enjoyed this:
Joël Taluau - Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil “Les Racines Du Temps” 2018
Coming on nicely. Notes of fresh strawberry and red cherry on the nose, then quite a chewy mouthful of the same, but lightened by a strong streak of cooler redcurrant which showcases the strawberry and eases the wine back from being too rich towards a much lighter and elegant finish. 14% ABV, like many 2018s, but I would never have guessed and there was no heat at all on the finish. Not quite top notch but a very classy midweek wine. 89 pts
I’d forgotten how much I paid, and was speculating whilst enjoying it - I thought probably 15 to 20€, so I was surprised to see that in fact it cost all of 6€. Remarkable value.
I bought this in 2019 having read a report by Chris Kissack. The name of the estate is in fact “Joël Taluau and Thierry Foltzenlogel”, Joël himself having died in 2013. I’m guessing this is a wine produced for the hypermarket chain I bought it from because it doesn’t figure in their current portfolio. You can buy direct on their website at very reasonable prices:
In the US, K&L has been direct importing back vintages of this producer for a few years. Extremely affordable ($35 USD for 1989, <$30 for 1996, 2000). Some bottles are getting long in the tooth, but I’ve had many more hits than misses – and great for a mid-week quaffer or an introduction to what well-aged Loire reds become.
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I am very unlucky when it comes to Baudry. Every bottle I’ve ever had has been full of Brett, to a fault.
I’ve seen a bit of mouse in Baudry more than once. Usually it’s just brett (sometimes a little, sometimes a lot), but I’m not surprised that other microbial stuff is sometimes going on. I am very sensitive to mousy taint, for what it’s worth.
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I’ve had enough like that to make me think you’re not that unlucky. Every time I was about to give up, I got a good bottle that was such a great wine for relatively little money. I’ve finally given up at this point. Those really nice bottles were too infrequent. There’s so much really good Loire Cab Franc now that doesn’t have this problem. I think the people who love this producer like brett and/or are not sensitive to it. Multiple people on this board have claimed there’s no brett at all in the wines, which I find laughable.
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I love Baudry. They’re my fifth-largest holding. I love them on the strength of their clean bottles. I can, and will, tolerate low levels of brett, which often helps when it comes to Baudry. That having been said, I’ve had plenty of Baudry that was unacceptably bretty. For me, for now, the unacceptably bretty bottles (and the ones with lower levels of brett) are a price I’m willing to pay to access the clean bottles. If not for the brett issues, I’d say their Croix Boissee rouge should be pushing $100; as it is, that’s about how much one needs to spend to run into a good bottle (I’d say one out of every two or three bottles is clean, and phenomenal).
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Glad to know I’m not the only one!
Aside from the monthly wine and poker get together, I am just not a gambler. So many clean producers out there making sublime Cab Franc I just can’t justify it.
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Entirely reasonable. That’s where I am with Emidio Pepe.
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I love Baudry. But I also like a healthy amount of Brett in my wine 
But yes they can be rather bretty.
I think when it comes to Loire reds, one has to be prepared to tolerate an occasional bit of brett, just like greener flavours in some bottles. They’re part of the package and I fully understand that some just don’t like them. I have a pretty high level of tolerance of both, unlike overripe, syrupy fruit with high levels of ABV - but that’s just my palate.
There must be some producers whose wines never show any brett, but I can’t think of any! I was going to say Joguet, but looking through my notes I just saw that two of the last 24 tried showed a bit of brett. Likewise Roches Neuves, which I thought were brett-free: in fact two in 38 bottles, so a bit less prevalent. Sanzay and La Porte St.Jean are about the same.
I agree that there are some who are more likely than others to show brett. Baudry would be top of my list, along with Yannick Amirault and Jacky Blot. It can also be a vintage thing - perhaps it’s just coincidence, but I’ve had a lot of bretty 2017s across the board.
I wonder too if when I taste “savoury” fruit, this means that there is a low level of brett. But I’m not clever enough to know the difference.
Anyway, I love the wines enough not to mind unless the level of brett really is too much, but I more than understand that any brett (or green flavours) can be a red line for some.
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This, 100%
Maybe Roches Neuves.
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In Loire, such as?
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Recent Alliet comes to my mind as being pretty low on brett. I’m surprised his wines don’t get more mentions on here in general really
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Good point! I’ve only encountered brett once in the last 20 bottles of Alliet Coteau du Noiré. I’m a great fan of them anyway.
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A number have already been mentioned in this thread, but I’ve had good luck with Antoine Sanzany, Guiberteau, and Catherine et Pierre Breton (their wines with Sulfur, anyway).
I’ve not had much recent releases, but Breton is pretty classic, old school Loire CF. I would not label this one is not having Brett, and older vintages definitely being more stylistically like Raffault. I can see the other two - for lack of a better word, “newer” producers like Roche Neuves - being so-called less bretty. Never really been moved by Giberteau. Need to give Sanzay more tries.
Have you tried Bretons’s Franc de Pied? Tasty stuff.
I have. Recently had the 2020 and loved it. Surprised you haven’t found any of Guiberteau’s reds compelling. Even their entry level Les Moulins has been fantastic to us.
Joguet and Pallus are my favorites right now.
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