jamie goode's wine blog: A brilliant, affordable red from the Loire

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

A brilliant, affordable red from the Loire

This is perhaps the best £4.99 wine I've ever had! I'm just amazed that Waitrose can list a wine of this quality, with a real sense of place, at a regular price of £4.99. If it were £8.99, I'd still think this was a good value wine. Look, it sounds like I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. And I didn't have just a sip at a big tasting (sometimes you can over- or underestimate a wine this way); I drank the bottle over two nights. I suspect that the excellent 2005 vintage is largely responsible for the over-delivery on quality.
Les Nivières 2005 Saumur, Loire
From Cave de Saumur. I love this wine. A varietal Cabernet Franc from a ripe vintage (13.5% alcohol), it has a nose of leafy, spicy, deep blackcurrant fruit with a distinctive minerality. The palate is quite dense, savoury and tannic with lovely fresh, pure, sappy raspberry and blackcurrant fruit, and a mouth-drying finish. It’s a really intense, food friendly sort of wine that captures the essence of Loire Valley reds brilliantly. This has so much character, it gets a surprisingly high rating from me for such an inexpensive wine. 90/100 (£4.99 Waitrose)

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13 Comments:

At 5:23 PM, Anonymous Dave said...

This sounds great, I'm going to try to track it down in the States. Cab Franc is just starting to be planted more widely in our region, but it's still hard to find on the shelves other than as a minor player in Bordeaux blends.

 
At 2:28 AM, Blogger Salil said...

I really need to start exploring Loire reds a bit more. I'm guessing 05 would be a good vintage to start - any suggestions on producers and regions to look in for solid, inexpensive Cab Franc that I might hopefully find in the US?

 
At 8:49 PM, Anonymous Alex Lake said...

Cab Franc rocks...

Try Cupole di Trinoro if you get a chance.

 
At 5:06 PM, Blogger Jamie said...

Alex - I've tried Cupole and it is mind blowingly good - it's from Corney isn't it?

Dave and Salil, I imagine it will be hard to find in the USA - RP doesn't like Loire reds very much

 
At 6:52 PM, Anonymous Doug said...

Cupole di Trinoro is probably not your typical Cab Franc. It's less than 50% of the blend from memory (there's quite a bit of Merlot & Cab Sauv in there as well) it has a big new oak regime, malo, micro-oxygenation - a very rich, constructed style. And it's 14%+.

If we're talking pure Cab Franc the Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny wines: Le Clos, Les Poyeux and the great Le Bourg (from 80 year old vines) have the perfume, purity and finesse that is the characteristic of great Cab Franc.

 
At 10:25 PM, Anonymous Alex Lake said...

I believe the blend in Cupole (yes, Corney's do it) varies quite a lot from year to year. And I concede that it's not Cab Franc as the folk from the Loire would know it, so using it as an illustration of the general appeal of C.F. is perhaps not so helpful. Maybe VCC (again, not 100% CF) would be a bit better? Or perhaps the truth is that I only really like the grape in moderation!

But, hark, do I detect another spoofulation debate in the offing?!

 
At 10:28 PM, Anonymous Alex Lake said...

Just a quick update on the blend. There does appear to be some confusion. Jancis points out:

"The Cupole blend according to www.tenutaditrinoro.it is a precise 78 per cent Cabernet Franc, 11 per cent Merlot, six per cent Cesanese d'Affile and five per cent Uva di Troia. According to its British importers the proportions are 23 per cent Cabernet Franc, 19 per cent Merlot, 23 per cent Uva di Troia and 35 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon. Take your pick."

Perhaps if Cecily's lurking, she might like to comment?!

 
At 10:36 PM, Anonymous Alex Lake said...

Oh dear, just noticed that the Jancis quote was somewhat ancient. But the blend does indeed vary quite a lot. The 05 is 47% and the 04 just 23%. My favourite vintage that I've tried has been 2001.

 
At 7:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Doug was talking about a good Saumer Champigny. Might I also recommend Domaine de Varinelles, owned by the Daheuiller family in the village of Vairrans -blindingly good stuff and they have also collected a most respectable clutch of medals over the last few years. They also do a lovely fizz !

 
At 10:10 PM, Anonymous Robert said...

I bought a bottle of this in Waitrose at the weekend and I'm just trying it now. Not sure about the QPR....my initial thought was that it smelled like a cheaper wine - it had that confected strong "middle" note I seem to find in all cheaper wines I open - guess I should have someone give me blind test just to check though! Good but not punching far above its weight at the price, for me.

 
At 2:29 PM, Blogger Jamie said...

Robert, thanks for the feedback. has anyone else tried it?

 
At 8:29 PM, Blogger Jonathan said...

This post has been removed by the author.

 
At 8:41 PM, Blogger Jonathan said...

Jamie - while the lively contrasting flavours and textures and great dry finish of this wine give it such personality, it still has quite a dark, bitter centre. Don't you think this is a bit much? Maybe I've been drinking too much bland Chilean merlot! What food would you have with it? Something quite rich?

 

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