Today’s cellar note has us savoring Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley. This bright, balanced Cabernet Franc has just about everything I enjoy in cool-climate Cab Franc. This wine is not a tasting sample, we purchased this wine through a wine club.
2014 Beatrice & Pascal Lambert ‘Les Perruches’, Chinon — pale ruby in the glass with translucence at the rim. Generous aromas of mixed herbs and dried cranberries are followed by flavors of tart raspberries, dried cranberries, dusty earth and gravel. Hints of cedar lend complexity and interest. Tannins are drying and well integrated with the flavors. Bright acidity and a body on the light side of medium keeps this Cab Franc so sippable. 13.5% abv. $26
This wine has it all. In the glass the flavors are balanced and interesting. As a partner for a meal the choices are many: fish, chicken, salads, pork, quiche. In the wine cellar indigenous yeast fermentation is used with fermentation in concrete vats. The wine was aged for 12 months in 600-liter oak barrels (second and third-use) and large wooden vats. After blending, the wine spent 6 to 8 months in concrete vats. It was bottled without fining or filtration.
In the vineyard, farming practices are certified organic and biodynamic. The vineyard soils in Les Perruches are very stony with flinty clay combined with silica. Beatrice and Pascal Lambert, who have been making wine in Chinon since 1987, believe this combination of organic and biodynamic viticulture allow them to craft wines that reflect each vineyard site. Certainly, this is a delicious, low-alcohol, 100% Cabernet Franc with complexity and grace. What’s not to love?
Cheers!
This sounds like my kind of wine!
This is my kind of wine! I’m always happy to come across a bottle from Chinon. Thanks for sharing your notes!