Nick - the 2014 Granges is a serious wine. While its drinking great now, I have no concerns at all with it going 10+ years. None. Now of course, I will slurp it down before it gets there, as I wait for the upper-end cuvées to mature.
I actually prefer Les Granges after 3 years of aging in a typical vintage. 2005/2010/2014 Granges will drink better after 5 years assuming the cellar is cool.
It’s good to know that I don’t need to drink it all now, although I wouldn’t be too upset if I did.
Katrina:
I’d never heard the correlation between temperature volatility (or more accurately, subpar storage conditions) and Brett in The Loire. My current cellar situation lingers around 65, so hopefully I’m not too sensitive to it.
All:
Thanks for the rec’s and thanks to the OP for facilitating the conversation on what has quickly become my third favorite grape.
Hi Nick-- Brett’s a yeast and so it flourishes in warm temps (60 and over). I’m not that sensitive to Brett, and like it at low levels. I can often not even detect it at lower levels though my partner will announce “this stinks!” Maybe my case of Pied de la Butte and my handful of Alliets would have slowly gone band-aidy even had they been in the Eurocave. But the first 1/2 dozen bottles were fresh and beautiful and then they started slowly going full on band-aid. Just to be safe, I now keep all loire cab franc in the Eurocave or offsite storage. YMMV of course, so let us know how it goes!
Yep, the warmer the temp, the greater the chance of a brett bloom IF:
- There are live brett cells in the bottle and
- The wine was bottled unfiltered and
- There is ‘food’ for the brett to survive on (carbon/nitrogen)
Cheers.
Fortunately, like Alfert, I seem to have been born in a pile of $hit in the Loire, and have a pretty high tolerance for brett.
+1 to those above. That’s where I usually hunt for C.F., of course being so close to the area I get to taste them more often.
I’d add Keuka Lake Vineyards, Herman Wiemer, Keuka Springs of late and I’ve long been a fan of Lamoreaux Landing’s unoaked C.F. that has a Pinot Noir-like frame.
I’m actually more full of $hit than born in $hit…
Plenty already mentioned, but Chanteleuserie Bourgueil, all cuvees. $15ish.
+1
Totally agree Sheila. A vintage on which to go very long. They drink great now but will age as well.
The Granges’14 has improved dramatically in the bottle over the last year…very nice cuvee
Baudry Les Granges
Baudry Rose (see what I did there?)
Thierry Germain Saumur-Champigny
Guion Bourgueil (any bottling)
Breton Trinch! (Much better use of the random exclamation point than the “Jeb!” logo)