At Terroir Wine Bar Saturday night
After a good experience trying a very nice juicy, fruity, high acid Cot (Marc Olivier "La Pepier") and a pleasant Soave, Luc, one of the partners, lined up some botttles of Catherine & Pierre Breton Loire reds for sampling. A revelation to this relative newby! Across the line, there was this amazingly pure and rich mouth feel-silky smooth but by no means lacking in acid and tannic backbone. This wine exemplifies "warm" character-not alcoholic heat, just a lovely warm, delicious drinkable, smooth mouth feel. A captivating wine. My favorite was the 2006 Chinon Saint Louan, which was simply singing, even at this adolescent stage! Across the line, one could taste the "bell pepper" characteristic of Loire Cab Franc, but the lovely red currant fruit and other savory herbal notes meant that this green-ness was only an element, a contributor, to the entire package.
On Superbowl Sunday, on a whim I packed up the 2006 C&P Breton Bourgeuil Les Dilettants. (sp? too lazy to Google). The bell pepper was more prominent here, but in no way offensive. Again, ths structure was so solid, with smooth, elegant, and silky mouth feel and an amazing melange of herbal and currant fruit flavors. Even though it might sacrilege to drink French Cab Franc on Superbowl Sunday (Go Steelers!), those of us sipping wine instead of just beer were blown away.
Luckily, Kermit Lynch is the importer, so these stellar Cab Francs are readily available in the Bay Area, although Luc noted that he had never seen the Saint Louan or beaumont bottlings here.