Tell me where I can buy Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny under $40 and I’ll rent a truck. Great wine, and generally priced accordingly.
I agree with the bulk of the Chinon/Bourgueil recommendations suggested by others (Baudry, Joguet, Olga Raffault, Breton). There’ve been some older Olga Raffault and Breton wines in the market lately for not crazy prices, and some of them can be really good.
Edited to say: Amirault, as well.
Whoops, I read the title and not the post. My bad.
I will second the Amirault recommendation and suggest the Les Quartiers cuvee, which usually costs around $25 and is like limestone in a bottle. The 08 is excellent, albeit closed at the moment.
Elliot
Bernard Baudry
Pierre Breton
Filliatreau
Ch. de Coulaine
Marc Plouzeau (at least his ultra-old vine ‘Ante Phylloxera’ bottling)
And I’m with Jay, Rougeard is a bit pricey but the wines are stunning.
Great wine, really fantastic but its $45.
Just piped a Foxen Cab Fran the other night and it was amazing.
I like your style, dude.
Jim, since you are on the East coast, you might want to try some of Long Island’s North Fork Cab Francs.
The terroir is not good there for Cab Sauv, but some of the Francs are really very good.
Also, Ravines, which is a Finger Lakes winery, makes a very good Franc.
Nice move! And I +1 to pretty much everything that’s been said so far.
One thing to note as far as Loire reds is soil type and exposure usually makes a big difference. The Franc grown on sand or gravel tends to be less structured and lighter, though Grezeaux seems to be a very notable exception. Limestone and clay soils seem to yield Franc with more substance, real vin de garde stuff. The pricing in most producers’ portfolios tend to reflect this. It’s definitely the case for Joguet and Baudry. If you pick up random bottles, definitely research the soil and exposure. The Wine Doctor’s website is incredibly useful for this purpose.
You will be happy with this decision, particularly if you do drink it slowly over the next 20 years or so. I bought 2 cases, it’s really a great wine and that is what I intend…
I added 6x 2009 Domaine Guion Bourgueil Cuvée Prestige to my order. At <$13/btl, there isn’t a great risk. Has anyone here tasted it? The few CT notes seem favorable and the Chambers St. comments seem promising. I think that on whole, Chambers St wine comments are less infected with hyperbole.
There was a thread on this wine a couple of months ago–I think it essentially sold out the then-available allocation. A very nice bottle and a great buy at the price.
Elliot
Try the olga raffault picasses from chambers - had the 2005 earlier this week and it was singing. salil and jay are right, however, the best cab franc i’ve ever had has been from Clos 'Rougeard - their 2007s should begin being available across the country, but will sell out rapidly.
The Guion wines are excellent and tremendous value. Tend to be somewhat lighter expressions, but excellent. The 2009’s are not particularly light and will age well.
Don’t ignore the less heralded vintages from the Loire.
The few 09s I’ve tasted had so much ripe fruit that a lot of the cab franc typicity seemed covered up.
09s might be prettier but 07/08s have shown more personality - at least in their youth.
Not sure if Larkin Cab Franc fits the price range but it’s a great wine.
Barrister from WA Columbia Valley. Cab franc is their ‘signature’ wine and is normally very excellent.
I just tasted the Pierre Breton offerings with Pierre today at Zachy’s. All reds are 100% Cab Franc. The wines, were were not my normal style preference, were excellent. Low ABV (12%), more elegant than fruit forward, a lot of minerality, many had tannins that were not harsh and biting even though they were voitages from 2007 to 2009. The pices were very reasonable. The 2009 Franc de Pied, which is ungrafted vines never affected by phylloxera since the soil is so sandy, is an outstanding wine at $27. I also enjoyed the 2007 Saint Louans, which is longer lived and needs some age and the 2008 Les Gallichets, which is ready now.
I picked up a couple of bottles as well.