Chevalerie 2015 Bourgueil Les Galichets

The Chevalerie "Galichets" vineyard is on mid-slope Turonian limestone with clay and alluvial sand and gravel topsoil, rich in silex; the vines average about 60 years of age - similar to the "Chevalerie" parcel but a bit lower on the slope, giving a wine that is more open and easy for early drinking.  The 2015 vintage is excellent, with a bit more ripeness and lower acidity than 2014, while retaining the core of minerals and acidity always found in the Chevalerie wines. The aromas of black raspberry and blackberry fruit are ripe and floral. The palate is dense and silky, very mineral with ripe red and black fruits and a clean vibrant finish. Still quite youthful, but drinking beautifully now.  David Lillie

Chevalerie 2015 Bourgueil Peu Muleau

(Arrives 5/9) Peu Muleau is located on the upper part of the hill in Bourgueil, just below the forest, on Cenozoic eolian sands with iron, clay and altered limestone tuffeau. The vines are around 35 years old, and farmed biodynamically. The maceration lasts less than 20 days. Aging is done in a mix of tank and large used barrels with less and less oak. This is the earliest drinking single-vineyard cuvée, always on the raspberry and wild violet with very supple tannins, but you can keep it up to 10 years without a problem. Peu Muleau is always more linear than Les Galichets - it does not have the same clay-gravel flesh, dancing on its feet with great elegance. The 2015 shows a bright red color and aromas that are more earth than fruit with subtle raspberry, strawberry, citrus and spice. The palate is a lovely blend of earth and red fruits, fairly tight but quite elegant with firm acidity and mineral flavors blending with raspberry and violet in the finish. Warning - not a fruit bomb and best suited to those who like some rocks in their wine. Best to decant or cellar 3 - 5 years.  David Lillie 

Baudry 2020 Chinon Les Grézeaux

(10/18) One of the most pleasurable red wines of the Loire Valley, the Baudry Chinon "Les Grézeaux " is from a unique parcel of sixty year-old vines near the bottom of the slope in Sonnay (near Cravant-les-Coteaux) on a bed of gravel over a base of clay, sand and limestone. The grapes are harvested by hand of course and fermented with wild yeasts with zero SO2 added during vinification. Beginning in 2017, the wine ages in large cement vats by Nico Velo, which are slightly porous. Les Grézeaux always has an elegant silky texture and wonderful freshness, making it delicious as a young wine, combined with the ability to age beautifully for 20 years and more in good vintages. Tasted just before the bottling by our secret agent in France the wine was "very generous on the attack with a luscious and 'gourmande' texture which tightens in the finish with very appetizing bitter chocolate notes. Very marked by the gravel terroir with silky black/red fruits, showing the ripeness of the vintage, but vibrant and fresh." As Matthieu Baudry says, the 2020s are "balanced and fresh, a bit less rich than the three precceding vintages. One finds again a more typical Chinon style with bright red fruit aromas, and the "vins de garde" will age gracefully thanks to their freshness and beautiful acidity." "Les Grézeaux" is always superb as a young wine - the 2020 should be marvelous on arrival - perhaps, for those who can wait, peak drinking will be 2030 to 2040? I wish I still had some 1989...  David Lillie

Baudry 2021 Chinon Blanc "Domaine"

The Baudry Blanc "Domaine" is normally from young vines in several parcels on the clay/limestone slopes in and around Cravant. Due to the tiny yields in 2021, the grapes normally in "La Croix Boissée," from older vines in the thin clay/silex soils at the top of the slope, were included  in this cuvée to make one Chinon Blanc in this vintage. While we're sad that there will be no "La Croix Boissée" Blanc in 2021, this "Le Domaine" will be a beautiful Chenin to enjoy now or to cellar for perhaps ten to fifteen years. The grapes are hand-harvested of course and ferment slowly with wild yeasts in 500 liter oak barrels until dry, normally less than 2 g/l RS. The wine is aged on its fine lees in used 500-liter demi-muids until the June after the vintage and is very lightly filtered at bottling. Sulfur usage is minimal. Quantity is limited.

Baudry 2020 Chinon Cuvée Domaine

Back in stock, not much left!  The Baudry Chinon "Domaine" is always one of our favorite reds from the Loire Valley and it's a sensational value as well.   All Cabernet Franc of course, a blend of 75% from a parcel in St. Louans, where the thin clay over limestone soils give earthy well-structured wines, with 25% from gravel soils near Cravant, giving supple fruit and freshness. Organic farming, wild-yeast fermentation, aging in 5 to 10 year-old wooden vats and cement with almost no added SO2. The 2020 shows a pretty red/black color with bright rim. The aromas are quite floral and bright, a pretty melange of boysenberry, black raspberry and tart cherry, very pure with hints of earth and pepper. The palate is supple, sapid and ripe and the tannins are firm. At 13% alcohol, the balance seems perfect. Firm acidity and mineral flavors are mostly hidden under the beautiful melange of ripe red and black fruits. This is a beautiful "Cuvée Domaine" that is sensational now, served slightly cool, and that will cellar ten years and more due to the firm acidity. We loved the rather brawny 2019 which needs a few more years to drink at its best - drink the 2020 while you wait but put some away as well. Very highly recommended, and thanks to the Baudrys for producing such honest and soulful wines. David Lillie

Baudry, Bernard & Matthieu 2021 Chinon Rosé

(10/18) As always, this is one of the most elegant and delicious of all French rosés, a reflection of the superb organic vineyard work and the great terroir possesed by the Baudrys as well as their great talent in vinifications with minimal added SO2. The Cabernet Franc grapes are from two parcels, one on clay/limestone with silex that brings structure, minerality and acidity to the wine ("Les Balais"), and another on sandy gravel soils bringing fruit and fragrance. The fermentation is slow, with wild yeasts, with no SO2 added, often taking a few months to finsh. Minimal SO2 is added before bottling. The 2021 will please those who enjoy a lighter, les "fruity" wine, as the wine is more delicate than the previous 3 vintages...

Chevalerie 2012 Bourgueil Busardiere

(10/18) Stéphanie, Emmanuel and Pierre Caslot are the current proprietors of this 400 year-old estate in Bourgueil. With excellent parcels on all the varied terroirs of Bourgueil they produce delicious old-school wines with great organic farming and natural vinifications with low sulfur. "Busardières is a great mid-slope parcel on Turonien limestone with clay rich in mica. A bit more structured than the "Chevalerie" cuvée, the wine shows intense aromas of blackberry and strawberry liqueur with violet, earth, cocoa, citrus and musk. Really lovely! The palate is supple and balanced with bright acidity, pure blackberry fruit, mineral flavors, earth and spice. This is an old-fashioned Burgundian Bourgueil that's delicious now and will age beautifully for 10 to 15 years. Bravo to the Caslots!

Chevalerie 2014 Bourgueil Les Galichets

Domaine de la Chevalerie's "Les Galichets" vineyard is on the lower part of the Turonian slope just below the "Chevalerie" plot,  with clay -alluvial sand and gravel topsoils, rich in silex,  giving a wine that is more open and easy for early drinking.  The vines average about 60 years of age. The wine is aged in large old barrels, and bottled after 6 months unfined unfiltered. 2014 Galichets is an archetypal Bourgueil to enjoy now!  This wine is a fabulous mix of fruit and minerals, perfectly balanced and with terrific length: dense black/red color, with aromas that blend soil, stone and blackberry fruit with hints of cocoa and violet. The palate is dense and supple and round without any heaviness - a blend of stone  and ripe red and black fruits, continuing in the long, graceful mineral finish. This is a beautiful Bourgueil that can be enjoyed now with roast chicken, pork dishes, even a steak - or hold for ten to fifteen years for a mature experience. It's a fabulous value  - congratulations to the Caslots! 100% Cabernet Franc. David Lillie / Pascaline Lepeltier (Re-tasted on Jan 3, 2022 - when opened it's very good, but on day 2 it's fabulous, a beautiful mouthful of earth and minerals , a bit of musk and gorgeous dark fruits. I'm buying a case, I suggest you do the same!)

Chevalerie 2015 Bourgueil Bretêche

Bretêche  is their easternmost vineyard, a rented plot on the border of Ingrandes-de-Touraine - (Domaine de la Chevalerie is  the only estate claiming this vineyard name). On the southwestern exposed upper part of the mid-slope, the vines are planted on a meter-deep heavier clay with high mica content above the Turonian yellow tuffeau. The vines, biodynamically farmed are between 25 to 55 years old. 2015 was an easier, more mastered vintage for the Caslot siblings, as the growing season was never extreme, and the harvests were peaceful. A little more concentrated than the 2014, especially in acidity, this a great vintage for the Domaine! Bretêche 15 is still a baby! Purple in the glass, the wine as usual has more freshness, tension and a little austerity. This is even more apparent here. The nose is a little restrained, showing progressively a lot of black and red currant and cranberry, hibiscus tea and black cardamon. In the palate, it is a superbly balanced wine, with some chiseled tannins enhanced by the lingering acidity. There is less flesh than other cuvées, and the texture is sleeker  but absolutely charming and vibrant - and could please any Burgundy lover. You will pick up more herbal notes in the palate : tobacco, beet juice, pink peppercorn. A great bottle to keep 10 years and plus, as it is built to age!  To serve it now, decant it a good hour at least or enjoy it over multiple days. 100% Cabernet Franc. Pascaline Lepeltier 

Chevalerie 2018 Bourgueil Diptyque "Franco de Port"

 The Chevalerie Bourgueil Diptyque is from vines located on 1 to 2 meters deep sand and gravel intermixed with clay soils on an old alluvial terrace close to the Loire, at the foot of the coteau. This terroir  gives supple, fruit driven Cabernet without being green or too simple thanks to the Biodynamic farming of the domain. If you don’t believe cabernet franc can be delicious, juicy, savoury yet fruity, just try this wine!  2018 was a beautifully ripe and well-balanced vintage for Loire reds - The 2018 Diptyque shows a deep black/red color with aromas of forest floor, black cherry liqueur, black raspberry, bitter chocolate and licorice with bright hints of herbs and citrus peel. The palate is bright, sapid and supple wth dense flavors of earth, black fruits , anise, cocoa and chalky minerals. The finish is long, with lingering black fruits, minerals and earth with very firm citrusy acids and cocoa at the end. Wow, just a delicious and beautiful young Cabernet Franc! Tannins are really gentle yet present, with a licorice root feel. Even if it is the vin de soif, you can drink it over a couple of days - it will only get better! Keep it up to 5 years with no problem. Serve with charcuterie, pork chops or roast chicken and be happy! 100% Cabernet Franc. Pascaline Lepeltier/David Lillie