Sometimes I wonder whether the romance of this wine is greater than the performance of this wine. I’ve had some lovely ones and some that just leave me at, “ok, this is good”.
This is 100% old vine Côt (Malbec) from Loire. Vines are 120+ years old. Supposedly the oldest vines of its type in all of France. Everything is hand harvested, pretty classic wine making here. Maturation is in 50% concrete egg and 50% neutral barriques. While Malbec is historically more common in Loire than i once understood, apparently it is normally just a blending grape, compared to its cousin in the southwest, Cahors. This is probably one of the very few Loire wines that is 100% Cót. This winery also makes a meritage that has, as one would expect, Cab Franc as the prime grape.
This 2022 has a smoky, gamy nose. A cool climate perfume, some menthol and herbs. Palate is dark fruited, tangy plums and black brambly fruits. Chewy and tart for now, showing very youthfully and tannic. Needs some time for sure. Quite nice now, say 89 pts.
Would love to know how these wines age, I just don’t buy them often enough to sit on them and figure it out. Has anyone had one of these wines with more than five years or more than 10 years of age?
On the third day of the full moon during Michaelmas. As with your Grenache, the grapes were crushed by foot, by fully naked, fair maidens. Geese were sacrificed and roasted, blood sprinkled over the gnarly old vines. Feasts ensued, Lords lorded over the farmers, barrels of Mead consumed. The revelry would last for two days until the moon lost its fullness. Then elevage was declared “done”.
Your question may be directly about the Touraine-Amboise appelation, but will chime in that I saw during a visit in Domaine Baudry (Chinon) concrete eggs that they use to mature a portion of their white wine which, it appears, they have been using for some time now.
My only experience with an older wine is the Clef du Sol (65% CF 35% Côt) 2010, which I found a bit odd, like a mixture between a Loire CF and a Cahors, rather disjointed in taste, as if the CF was fighting for supremacy with the Côt. I’ve got some Côt Vieilles Vignes 2017, which I shall try and report back on.
I bought a dozen or so different vines and vintages, both white and red, as the owners seemed really nice in the interviews I’ve read. Their wines are the sort which I feel I should like, and which I really want to like. This sounds stupid, I know. I did really enjoy one wine, Les Epinays 2017, a white Montlouis, but all the others have underwhelmed me.
I don’t know when they started using the concrete eggs, but as far as I can see, they are just one of several methods used, ranging from amphorae to cement vats to large foudres and barrels, depending on the wine and the year.
Interesting, while I used the term generically, I did not know it was limited to an American wine that blends two or more of the noble Bordeaux grapes.
Ok, that explains. I thought it was common knowledge it was a protected term used for American (I don’t know if non-American wineries can join the association) Bordeaux blends. That’s why it sounded really weird hearing a small Loire winery was making a Meritage as well!
Same here, when I read “meritage” my brain automatically translated the term to “blend” without questioning the origin nor the proper usage of the term. Learning something new every day
The weird thing about Côt is that, despite its low profile, it is the principal variety for Touraine appellation vineyards east of Tours. If a domaine is west of Tours they can focus on Cab Franc, but east the lead variety has to be Côt. If you think that’s nuts, I wouldn’t argue with you. Of course, this is the Loire, and just a generic appellation, so you would be surprised what you can get away with…
On “classic” winemaking, not sure if this is just your take or what someone said, but when a Loire vigneron describes classic or traditional vinification, they usually mean without carbonic maceration.
I really like Damien and Coralie Delecheneau, I think they are talented people, the wines often impress in youth. But I don’t drink them a lot with age. From memory my general impression of Côt I have cellared and then come back to at 10+ years says it doesn’t impress; they are not bad wines, just never really developed much. Over the years I have drunk Côt from Xavier Weisskopf, Noella Morantin and Dom de la Charmoise, not sure about La Grange Tiphaine, will have to check.
Gamey nose on a 2022 (low acid vintage) from a less interventionist winemaker makes me wonder about Brett?
I thought it was common knowledge it was a protected term used for American (I don’t know if non-American wineries can join the association) Bordeaux blends. That’s why it sounded really weird hearing a small Loire winery was making a Meritage as well!