Hauts Baigneux - Les Pentes Cabernet Franc 2021

 Everything you could want from a Loire red at this price. Easy drinking, food friendly. Fresh with juicy Gamay fruit, Grolleau spice and the dark fruit and leaf of Cabernet Franc. Delicious.

NERD NOTES:

25 yr old vines from a 5ha vineyard (Les Pentes) on clay with limestone bedrock. Guyot Poussard pruning. Hand harvested. Natural yeast fermentation in concrete tanks, elevage in stainless steel tanks. Unfined and filtered "sur terre blanche", otherwise known as earth filtration, where the wine is run through (typically) diatomaceous earth.  

The Producer: Philippe Mesnier and Nicolas Grosbois purchased 12 hectares of vines in Azay-le-Rideau in 2013. Nicolas, born and bred in the area, has always seen a lot of potential in this relatively unknown terroir a few kilometres east of Chinon. The duo immediately began farming the vines organically and achieved certification in recent years. They want to share what Azay-le-Rideau can showcase, with its clay and limestone terroir ideal for Chenin.