Saumur "Château Fouquet"

France
Loire
2021

100% Cabernet Franc. Château Fouquet is a lieu-dit in the village of Brézé 10 kilometers east of Saumur and just outside of the Saumur-Champigny AOC. Founder Paul Filliatreau acquired some partly abandoned Cabernet Franc vines here in 1987 and began replanting in 1989 with massale cuttings from his friend and Chinon vigneron Charles Joguet. Farming was converted first to organics (certified since 1998) and then to biodynamics (certified since 2018). The total acreage is 15.5 hectares now, 11 of Cabernet Franc and 4.5 of younger Chenin Blanc.The bunches are manually harvested, destemmed and fermented with native yeasts in stainless steel tank. Maceration lasts about 25 days. The wine is aged in used barriques and steel tanks for 18 months.

 

93 points
"The 2021 Château Fouquet bottling from Domaine Filliatreau is an excellent, young Saumur. Readers may recall that this vineyard is located in the commune of Brézé, which Paul Filliatreau purchased in rundown condition in 1987 and replanted in 1989 with cabernet franc cuttings from Charles Joguet. The wine is impressively ripe for a 2021, tipping the scales at 13.5 percent octane and offers up a lovely mix of red and black fruit in its aromatic constellation of cherries, dark berries, cigar wrapper, juniper berries, a lovely base of tuffeau soil tones and a topnote of bonfire. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied and very precise, with a good core of fruit, fine soil signature, tangy acids and excellent balance on the long, complex and ripely tannic finish. In a pinch, this wine is approachable today, but really needs at least five or six years in the cellar to soften up its underlying tannins a bit more before it will start firing on all cylinders. It is a lovely, low fat example of Saumur-Champigny with loads of personality. 2030-2075. "
John Gilman,
View From The Cellar
July 2024

SKU/Code: 
DB0016-21
Product Line: 
Wine
Red
Varietal: 
Cabernet Franc
Farming Type: 
Biodynamic