April 13, 2024 - this cork was saturated and broke upon extraction. The wine didn't seem any the worse for it. Fairly accessible with a typical franc flavor profile, maybe a bit less green than most. Tannins a bit drying on the finish. After about 4 hours open, it was more friendly and in better balance.
March 17, 2024 - A reasonably good performance, good color still has a young nose, no complexity, has good balance between acidity and fruits. Has a classic Loire Cab Franc nose, body and structure. Will last 10 more years minimum. A good value for the price than quite a few California Cab Francs.
February 5, 2024 - On this bottle, the cork was only saturated 2/3 the way up...drinking fine, fairly friendly for a loire cab franc with balanced structure, fruit and no green flavors
October 23, 2023 - This needs a lot of air. Was closed off for 2-3 hours and then began to show some of the fruit as well as a bit of oak and maybe a hint of vanilla.
Day 2 this wine completely transformed. Wonderful pepper, tobacco, and leather. Tannins are surprisingly integrated for age.
As others have said, beware of cork seepage. Would love to see this with 8-12 years on it but not sure it will make it.
May 25, 2023 - Bottle variation.
May 1, 2023 - Good showing this time around.
April 17, 2023 - Very Good. The first of six bottles purchased three years ago. Though very good and a solid, honest wine for the table, the was quite hard on PnP and did not unwind much over an hour and a half. A decant may be recommended at this stage. There is a riper than usual fruit, but it is mostly caged in by a stony wall. Still, a classic bistro wine with rustic class.
While I want to age some bottles for a decade+, I'm concerned about seepage. Seepage on this cork ranged from between 50% - 100% up the side. I scrolled others' TNs and find many mentions of this. So these may need to be consumed prematurely.
13.5% abv
April 6, 2023 - Rustic and in need of more fruit. 13.5% ABV.
April 5, 2023 - A 91 but in the absolutely best way possible. This wine is not meant to be the finest wine ever made, and that’s by design. It is musky and mid heavy bodied on the opening with a dry plum essence that leaves behind a mid length finish with a bit of an alcohol burn. Dry with a down to the dirt expression of terroire. It has a French character to it that is unmistakable. Not elegant by class but elegant by character. A farmer’s talent fully realized.
February 19, 2023 - Again, a fully saturated cork and some leakage to the capsule. All six of my bottles had compromised closures but that's okay because the wine has been absolutely terrific.