If you need a red wine that going to require 3 days to show its stuff, then this one is for you!
TN:2009 Catherine et Pierre Breton Bourgueil Trinch, Loire Valley.
I think a Diam cork, 100% Cab Franc, guess around $29 Cdn, cellared 4 yrs, 12.5% alc, grown biodynamically. Some sediment noted, decanted for an hour but sure needed more time.
I have to think some bottle variation as some well known enthusiasts wrote notes hardly similar to mine!
Quite a stemmy nose which carried through to the palate. Tannic, very dry finish and overall not much shown till last glass on day 3 when I found some hints of ripe fruit. Unappealing wine which was a pity as I was looking forward to opening, having read so much about the Breton family.
I have not tried this particular bottling but I have had about six bottles of the 2009 Breton Franc de Pied. All very good, beautiful bright red fruits.
This bottling is their earliest drinking wine so I’m rather surprised it’s holding up. Semi carbonic IIRC. I bought a bunch if these closed out at about $10 per around four years ago. Is say over half ofthe bottles were very good if you are brett tolerant but a few were extremely bretty.
From Kermit Lynch’s website: “Trinch” is named after a German expression meaning “cheers” championed by the poet and philosopher Rabelais. Trinch is a Cabernet Franc from younger vines vinified in stainless steel with a cold maceration. It is made for early consumption and typically has very accessible fruit, soft tannins and low alcohol. Bottled in the Spring after harvest.
Bob, Bourgueil Perrieres and Chinon Saint Louans are the cuvees to age.
I find this comment rather baffling. If a producer from the Loire (or anywhere else) makes five wines at different price points, one can typically assume that the entry-level red is for earliest drinking, with a longer drinking window for each successively more expensive bottling.* I don’t find assessing drinking windows for Loire cabernet franc to be particularly mysterious.
*with the caveat that many feel franc de pied wines show better younger and yet may also be more expensive. Also worth nothing that I am talking about wines made from cabernet franc, as it becomes much harder to generalize if we include wines from many different grapes.
I had some '09 Prestige and Rose that were so marred by brett they were basically undrinkable, and I consider myself fairly brett tolerant. Other bottles of '09 Prestige were excellent, so it wasn’t widespread. I also haven’t found much enjoyment in the '14s or '15s yet, just too young.
Bob, your note gave me cause to pop a 2015 Trinch tonight. My notes:
Very recognizably cab franc, but on the fruitier side. A bit barnyardy on the nose, but blew off after 15 mins. Leaving brambly fruit and bell pepper. Very pleasant ripe plum, dark berries, tobacco, and more than a little tomato leaf. Medium acid and mellow tannins. A bit hollow on the finish. Would drink up young. Ok, but not amazing value (relative to other chinon/bourgueil) <88>
Imho, the Trinch and Franc de Pieds are especially well-suited to youthful drinking. The Senechal and Perrieres, otoh, have a reputation for very long-term agibility. My last 05 Senechal, maybe half a year ago, was just entering adolescence.
I’ve opined before on this site that Loire Cab Franc-base wines are food-obligate: you must drink them with food to appreciate them. Time and again, I’ve opened one of these bottles to find a ho-hum sipper on its own, that launches glimmering fireworks with a good meal.
Suzanne, fwiw, I also have a magnum of 05 Perrieres, which I don’t plan to even look at for another 10 years or so.
I’m also a fan of Saumur Cab Francs, Hureau a case in point.
Does the cork producer have a name? Assuming you are a wine consumer, you can’t be expected to know this but “DIAM-style” is actually misleading because their process is patented so no other “agglomerated” (industry term for rebuilt corks) cork producer can quite claim to have the same process. It matters as lesser quality agglo corks could easily taint this wine with a low level TCA which would explain the difference of opinion re: tasting notes. In my experience, low level cork taint in agglo corks was an issue at the end of the previous decade.
Well, to me, in the Loire you have a third dimension: vintage. Yes, vintage matters in every wine growing area, but some more than others, and I find Loire reds can change in the extreme depending on the year. When they are on (to my taste, and admittedly this usually means a warmer year), I love them, but in off years, I find screechy acidity that I generally don’t find in other areas. Sometime the cheaper wine can age and age well, but other times not.