Located in the Auvergne, Saint-Pourçain actually has more in common with the Maconnais than the Loire, with Chardonnay, Gamay and Pinot Noir the main varieties. (You can read more about this small but interesting appellation on Richard Kelley’s site.) This is an inexpensive but delicious wine that’s a 60/40 blend of Gamay and Pinot. Worth checking out if you like perfumed, sapid, lighter reds.
Les Terres d’Ocre ‘Instant T’ 2013 Saint Pourçain, Loire, France12.5% alcohol. This is a blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay from 25 year old vines. It shows fresh vivid cherry fruit on the nose with a green, sappy character. Brooding and pure. The palate is bright, fresh and berryish with good acidity and nicely integrated green notes. Juicy and delicious. 90/100 (£9.95 The Wine Society)
Haven’t tried this particular wine but another from the same vintage (different producer) was not very good. I suspect a result of the combination of wine making and vintage. My understanding is 2013 was not a particularly good vintage in this area of the Loire.
Those “nicely integrated green notes” you find in this wine set off alarm bells for me.
Green notes in red wines are perfectly acceptable to some and how well “integrated” they may be is rather subjective. “Green” notes in red wines is a flaw due usually to the ripeness/picking decisions
nature and man/woman control.
The wine I samples was loaded with a peppery quality, a light color that showed some age at the rim (not a good thing in a two year old red) little “bright” fruit and a sourness on the finish. Though biodynamic plus minimal wine making intervention are in effect I actually did not feel so great after what amounted to a glass.
I am not reviewing this wine so much as wondering if my suspicion is–what I was tasting was a result of lack of ripeness (vintage or harvest time) plus a possible lack of malo and lack of adequate sulphur?
PS
My wine had a higher per cent age of Pinot Noir to Gamay (50/50, I think). Given the proximity of St Pourcain to the Maconnaise, I also wonder if Pinot Noir is an optimum grape for this clime?