Transcendent Bourgueil - Catherine and Pierre Breton

4/11/2008 -

For the last 20 years, Catherine and Pierre Breton have making some of the most elegant and age-worthy reds of the Loire Valley. So I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the 2005 Bourgueil Les Perrières, as everything they have made in 2005 has been nothing short of brilliant. I opened a bottle on a Monday, and I will confess, this thing was clamped shut, but still had an uncanny freshness. You could tell there was a lot there but it was going to take major coaxing to get something from this wine. Five hours open and this thing budged about a centimeter, but I knew if I waited I would be rewarded. So the next night I opened it up and it was getting there. More fruit was coming through on the palate and there was a lovely raspberry coulis note on the nose. The purity was really shining on this day but there was still a tannin/fruit battle and the tannins were winning. You could tell as we move into the third and fourth quarter that the fruit would win with the tannin playing a supporting role. A ripe supporting role mind you. Day three I left it alone, but on day four the fireworks started to happen. We have reached perfect harmony. Yin/Yang and this was approaching a quality level I rarely see in Bourgeuil. It still had that burly Bourgeuil quality to it but the fruit/tannin balance was astonishing and the refinement was nothing short of breathtaking. Every sip was just amazing. Chewy, sweet ripe tannins with a lovely herbal tint at the edges and in the midpalate. Complexity was off the charts as was the length. I don't wanna pontificate like famous wine critics bit this wine had at least a thirty-nine second finish. Amazing! Stupendous! Based on this four day experience I would say this will be a long ager and every self-respecting Loire fanatic should have a good stash of this in their cellar. I think this might be the best Breton Bourgeuil Perrieres of the last ten years. Truly amazing stuff.

Now just some minor specs. It comes from vines that are up to 70 years old and the vineyard has some sand on top of the clay-limestone soil, well up on the south-facing slope of Bourgueil. The farming is organic and bio-dynamic, yields are very low, harvesting is by hand and the fermentation is with wild yeasts only. The wine is bottled un-filtered and, despite the minimal sulfites, will cellar for 20 years or more.