(YANNICK AMIRAULT Les Quartiers Bourgueil) Bourgueil Dear Friends, Two Loire wines in a row may be a bit much for some (not for me) but this wine is indeed excellent and it deserves a full-bore offer. If you swoon for Cabernet Franc here's your chance to indulge at a very enticing tariff. Compared to the typical, this is anything but...and it should age for a number of years, at least a decade or more. Bourgueil is one of the more mispronounced wine regions of France (say: boor-goy) and it often is confused for a Burgundy appellation of some sort. Mineral-infused, cool-toned and age-worthy Cabernet Franc is king here as it is in Champigny, Chinon and the surrounding regions. Deep in the heart of Bourgueil, Yannick Amirault produces several old-vine cuvees of 100% Franc that are toothy, black as night and intended for the cellar. Awash in the soil, acid and minerality of the region, these are some of the most intense examples of Bourgueil. As a comparison, Amirault's wines are bigger and richer than something like Breton with a rainbow-like, mouth-coating quality that runs the entire spectrum of visible and ultra-violet light. These are the rare Loire reds that can engage many different palates, from Brooklynguy to those that lean toward a modern version of 1974 Mayacamus. The Les Quartiers VV is Amirault's best wine sourced form 45-55 year old vines planted on limestone (this is not his regular Bourgueil or the lesser Coudraye). While I realize this is an 2006, I am including David Schildknecht's review of the 2005 Les Quartiers as it acts as a perfect introduction to the underlying and often mysterious complexity of Amirault's best wines (in my opinion, the 2006 version is even better than the 2005 which is bigger but not necessarily as reliant on its show of terroir): Red wine with this level of detail is not the norm in the wine-world and it typically costs far more - let's just leave it at that. ONE SHIPMENT ONLY at this price with perfect provenance 2006 Yannick Amirault Bourgueil "Les Quartiers" (Vieilles Vignes) Thank you, Jon Rimmerman Garagiste Seattle, WA Loire3478
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By John Gilman
(Bourgueil “les Quartiers”- Yannick Amirault) Login and sign up and see review text.Sep/Oct 2009, Issue #23, The Annual Loire Valley Report- Plenty of Fine Wines Abound Amongst Current Releases from the 2008, 2007 and 2006 Vintages