La Grange Tiphaine 2022 Côt Vieilles Vignes

Coralie and Damien Delecheneau’s Côt Vieilles Vignes is for me one of the greatest Loire Valley red wines. As a Côt, I consider it in the league of Cosse-Maisonneuve’s Marguerite. Côt also known as Malbec is a misunderstood grape: far from being overly tannic, inky, rustic, this variety can reach a superb level of refinement, elegance and quality with the right vegetal material (century years old clones), low yield, limestone based soil and great farming. The Delecheneau have it all, as they are lucky to own probably one of the oldest examples of Côt in France, a 120+ year-old vineyard. The vines are located a 5 min walk from the winery, on the upper hill of Amboise. Damien does not really know when it was planted, but looking at the gnarly vines, the small and loose clusters with their red stems, you know they are from another time. Grown on red clay and flint over limestone, with a southeastern exposition, these couple of rows of vines produce a superb, unique wine. Hand-harvested, the grapes are hand-sorted twice and destemmed. They undergo a long, gentle maceration in a cement tank, then the wine is aged 50% in concrete egg and 50% in 225 l barrel, in order to preserve the fruit without bringing too much reduction. With notes of blue berry, citron peel, iris, truffle, the nose and the palate are so crunchy and fresh, while the tannins are velvety and lingering. This wine is still a baby, who needs a good decant to be enjoyed now, in a Bordeaux glass. Pair it with a beautiful wagyu beef tartare with confit shallot and black currant mustard, or a lamb shoulder served with herbs bulgur and a mint-yogurt seasoning. 100% Côt. -Pascaline Lepeltier

From the Wine Doctor: Dark, smoky and perfumed on the nose, this old-vines cuvée of Côt is filled with the scents of dark plum and a little black cherry, with threads of toasted fruits, dark chocolate and coffee bean. This precedes a very fine, fresh, open and easy-going start to the plate, with a fine and rather juicy substance to the fruit, dark and floral like the nose, with a dense grain of tannins and fresh acidity. Charming, but primary and gripped, this one needs time. The alcohol on the label is 12.5%.