Les Athletes du Vin - Saumur Champigny 2022

A juicy and delicious Cab Franc from the wonderful people at Les Athletes du Vin. A wine the made me realize I had been misspelling "Athletes" for my entire adult life.

Tastes like Cab Franc in the best possible way. Medium bodied and smoothly fruity with soft, fine tannin. Dark fruits and plum alongside classic Cab Franc tomato leaf. Delicious and super good for the price.

NERD NOTES

Hand harvested Cabernet Franc grapes, grown on 25 year old vines in Saumur Champigny, with clay soil and limestone bedrock.

The wine was macerated on skins for 3 weeks and fermented with natural yeasts in stainless steel tanks, before being further aged for 6 months in stainless steel.

No fining, light filtration, and minimal sulphur added.

ABOUT LES ATHLETES DU VIN

'Les Athlètes du Vin' began as a collective of organic winemakers across the Loire Valley, intended to highlight the beauty of the region and it's wine - its appellations, grape varieties, and viticulture/winemaking techniques. Each producer in the collective farms their own vineyard and vinifies their cuvees separately, but collaborate together for logistics and distribution, the sharing of winemaking knowledge, and providing support & feedback on their wines.

The collective share a single philosophy when it comes to making wine: Maximum care in the vineyard and minimal intervention in the winery. They use sustainable and organic farming practices and hand harvest their vines, ranging from 10 to 120 years old. The grapes are fermented with natural yeasts in stainless steel, concrete, or old oak, with light or no filtration and minimal sulphur added. They make delicious wine, as true to the region and terroir as possible.

In 2016, the collective started producing wines together under the 'Les Athlètes du Vin' name, no longer simply collaborating together on logistics/distribution and sharing knowledge, but producing wine from their many vineyards together.

Their name comes from their shared wine tastings and accompanying long lunches, turning all of them into true elbow-raising champions!