- red
- 0 in stock
- Organic
- Biodynamic
- Low Sulfur
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, especially in dense vintage like 2018. The wine is bottled after 10 months with a light filtration and sulfur dioxide adjustment. 2018 is the best vintage to date of this wine (2019 will be also I think superb). It has an incredible balance with very low pH balancing the ripeness - you would never guess the alcohol content. 2018 is a very discriminatory vintage for red in the Loire, and you will see very easily who has done the job in the vineyard: if well done, you will have crazy acidity and alcohol; poorly done the wine will taste heavy and oxidized. Here, the job was superbly done! 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.
