2020 Domaine des Roches Neuves Saumur-Champigny Franc de Pied

Community Tasting Notes (6) Median Score: 93 points

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  5/9/2024 - salil wrote: 70 Points

  Starts off showing bright red and black fruits with green tobacco and leafy characteristics, but there's a strong burnt rubber-like reductive note that distracts at first as a background note, and gets stronger with air. There's a fair bit of coarse tannin and a grainy texture (none of the finesse here that I've found in the Baudry or Breton Franc de Pieds), then it turns thin and lean on the finish and falls away on the back end. The overall package makes me wonder why this is priced near/above $50. I see another note comparing this to Pinot Noir; the only one I'd compare this to is Meiomi. Yes, it's that mediocre. Perhaps the most overrated thing since someone referred to the Senate as the world's greatest deliberative body.

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  2/13/2024 - grafstrb wrote: flawed

  -- decanted 30 min. before initial taste --
  -- tasted non-blind over 2.5 hrs. --
  
  NOSE: tangy, red/purple fruit mix, perhaps with plum leading the way; light stony mineral note; seems fairly open. I thought I caught a whiff of something mousey, and this was later confirmed when Ash, without me having said anything, stuck her nose into her glass and immediately said “this smells yeasty” (she’s not familiar with “mousiness,” exactly).
  
  BODY: ruby-violet color of medium-shallow to medium depth; medium-light bodied.
  
  TASTE: flashy, with medium acidity; little bit of medium-fine tannins; light leather jacket note, especially on the finish, which is fairly persistent despite its medium-light intensity; slightly smoky, with some light purple berries, too --- not terribly dissimilar from Baudry’s “Guillot”, which goes for approximately half the price; definitely a touch mousey. I guess this is pleasant enough, if you can look past some mousiness. For me, this is flawed, and I would generously score it in the low to mid 80s. I imagine this would be excellent without the mouse.

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  10/28/2023 - Tgood wrote:

  Dark pig - blackberry preserves and prunes - sweet fresh tart fruitfilled dense velvety mouth presence - a nice full Loire CF experience with a dose of Loire CF freshness with uncommon density and length - Bravo

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  10/23/2023 - talbot61 Likes this wine: 93 Points

  I decanted the wine two hours before dinner, which was helpful, but it is still too young. The aroma is very expansive -- sweet cherry -- but the flavor doesn't have the sweetness and is more constrained. I would expect it to open up with age. It is nevertheless a very classy wine -- like dark chocolate fondant -- with no green-pepper flavor, a beautifully integrated acidity, and a great intensity of flavor. I bought it on close-out for $32 and I will happily buy more at that price.

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  6/16/2023 - Costes76 wrote: 90 Points

  Still not a fan of 100% cab franc

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