The Bourgueils are Back in Town, Featuring Stephane Guion's Beautiful 2016 Cuvée Prestige!
3/1/19 -
First, we'd like to apologize for being out of Stéphane Guion's wine for almost two months - a disaster, caused by various shipping problems, delays and vacations. The good news is that the shipment arriving next week includes the superb 2016 Cuvée Prestige! For those of you who like to cellar their Bourgueils - or who enjoy drinking a beautifully structured wine that's a bit young - the 2016 Prestige will be a special treat. The 2016 vintage in the Loire Valley was quite difficult, with many growers suffering huge loses to frost on the 27th of April, followed by periods of intense mildew attacks until early July that further lowered yields. Weather in the summer and fall, however, was near perfect with dry sunny conditions prevailing and just the right amount of rain in September. The resulting wines from this low yielding vintage are classically structured, with ripe, vibrant fruit and firm acidity - comparisons can be made to the excellent 2002 and 2010 vintages. Tasted a few weeks ago in France, the 2016 Prestige showed wonderfully with very pretty high-toned aromas and an elegant ripe palate with lovely fruit, firm tannins and terrific length. Thank you, Stéphane!
The Bourgueils of Stephane Guion have become some of the most popular wines at Chambers Street, and for good reason - the domaine was started by Stephane's parents in the 1950's and was converted to organic agriculture in 1965! Stephane, who received an oenological degree and then worked in Bordeaux and Chinon, made his first wine in 1990 and has maintained the organic methods of his parents, using only the natural treatments allowed by Ecocert. Harvesting is by hand and fermentations are with wild yeasts, with no sulfites added. (There are no sulfites added at bottling, only a minimal amount to protect the wine after the malolactic fermentation). The Cuvée Domaine, from 8 to 30 year-old vines, is fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks while the Cuvée Prestige, from 35 to 80 year-old vines, ferments in wooden vats and ages in old barriques. Stephane's Cuvee Deux Monts, first made in 2009 is from 80 year-old vines in "Petits Monts" and "Grand Monts" towards the top of the slope above Benais, facing roughly south-west with soils of clay over Turonien limestone (tuffeau, craie micacée).
After tasting with Stéphane, we paid a visit to his neighbor Stéphanie Caslot at Domaine de la Chevalerie in Restigné, another superb organic producer of delicious age-worthy Bourgueils. The Caslots make six different cuvées based on parcels with different topsoils and different types of underlying limestone - it's a fascinating journey through the great terroirs of Bourgueil. We tasted through the 2014 and 2015 vintages from each site - a superb tasting - and we are happy to offer the wines currently available in NY, mostly 2014s, including the superb "Les Galichets" certainly one of the greatest values from this over-achieving region.
While we're on the subject of Cabernet Franc, we'd like to give a nod to the Chateau de Coulaine, a superb estate in Beaumont-en-Veron, where the young Jean de Bonaventure is continuing the great work of his parents who converted the estate to organic and biodynamic farming in the early 1990s. The "Cuvée Domaine" and the "Bonaventure" offer soft, elegant fruit for current drinking, while the estate's south-facing parcel in the great "Les Picasses" vineyard is a superb Chinon to age that is surprisingly delicious to drink young! (Sorry, low stock on the Picasses, more is on the way...)
(All wines are in stock, with the exception of the 2016 Guion Prestige which arrives Monday March 4th; 2015 Ch. Coulaine Picasses, more inventory arrives March 11th))
