Bonne journée pour les amis du vin! Good day, wine friends! Welcome to Cépage et Cuisine, Mary’s and Brian’s wine and food blog. Today’s post is basically a winemaker highlight article. Following the morning walk to the boulangerie in Le Puy Notre Dame (pain aux raisin again…yum, says Mary), we had lunch in Saumur, then set out for Bourgueil. It is east of Saumur and north of Chinon. Like Saumur and Chinon, Bourgueil is both a place and an appellation. My objective was the domaine of Catherine and Pierre Breton in the village of Restigné, just east of the town of Bourgueil. Domaine Breton is another producer brought to our awareness by Kermit Lynch in Berkeley. Catherine and Pierre are known for natural viticulture and enology practices, organic farming, no sulfites, no cultured yeasts, judicious use of oak barrels. Their wines are true expressions of their land and varying terroir, what Kermit and others might call "wines of character."
I emailed them a week earlier and got no reply. When we arrived, we opened a door and there were Pierre and Catherine, hard at work, which is sort of like seeing rock stars backstage if you’re a wine geek. They were busy and obviously surprised, but Pierre graciously agreed to see us. “I will serve you.” He seemed to acknowledge that we had come from America to seek his wines specifically. He quickly grabbed some wine stems and took us down to the cellar, accompanied by his dog. He explained he had been away for a week, Catherine hadn’t seen him, and the dog had bitten the postman. “He hates those yellow trucks.”
Mag, the part owner of Le Bouchon Ponot in Le Puy Notre Dame, had explained that the tannic structure of the Cabernet Franc of the Loire Valley increases from Saumur to Bourgueil to Chinon, with Chinon possessing the greatest tannins and Saumur the least. Bourgueil is right in the middle, with good tannic structure, greater than Saumur, but a little smoother and rounder than Chinon. This is all related to terroir, the soil character and other factors. Pierre tasted us through three cuvees from different vineyard sites. The first was an easy drinking, fairly simple wine he describes as basic and intended for everyday consumption … “a wine to enjoy after a day’s work.” They call it La Dilettante. The label shows a man reclining in a vat of grapes. The other two wines have get more oak barrel treatment, come from different sites, and need more time to reveal themselves. They are more serious wines that require correct food pairing and patience. Once again, all the wines were recognizable as Cabernet Franc, but different from site to site, and different in structure from Saumur and Chinon.
We bought a bottle of La Dilettante to take back to the gite, where Mary prepared a delicious dinner of saucisse aux herbes and sautéed vegetables. We finished with the rest of the Epoisses. It was a simple dinner with a wine that was easy to drink and easy to enjoy. It had delicious fruit, did not require intense thought or analysis, smooth and fruity, just went down easy as Pierre said.
Domaine Breton Bourgueil La Dilettante 2010. We had the honor of tasting with Pierre Breton at the domaine. It was a delightful experience. On his recommendation, we had this wine with dinner. He describes it as an easy drinking, inexpensive, everyday wine that goes with many foods. It had what I want in an easy wine and that is varietal typicity. It had nice fruit aromas but also had Cabernet aromas of cassis, flowers, and minerals. The palate was medium in body and acidity and very smooth in texture. It had red and dark fruits, mostly, and a bit of earthy character. The tannins were polished. It was balanced, moderate in complexity, and with medium length. It is not a ponderous wine, just drink and enjoy with food. 12.5% alcohol. We paid 12€ for the wine, although Pierre said, “Ten euro is ok if you don’t have 12.”
That’s our post for today. We hope you found it interesting and enjoyable. Keep checking back at Cépage et Cuisine for more of our culinary and wine adventures in France. Until then,
Cheers!
Mary♥Brian
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