Domaine De La Noblaie Chinon Rouge Les Blancs Manteaux – 2019

From vines averaging 65 years old grown on limestone soils, this excellent value Cabernet Franc has a wide array of violet, raspberry and redcurrant flavours. It is silky smooth with impressive depth of flavour but has an overriding freshness, tension and even some minerality on the finish. Drink with a Mediterranean-style, herb-crusted rack of lamb.

1250 cases were produced. Drink now – 2029

Rated 95pts by the French publication Bettane & Desseauve

This impressive, family-owned domaine of around 26 hectares is situated on rolling hillsides overlooking the town of Chinon and the river Vienne, a tributary of the Loire. The soils are a mix of clay and limestone, perfect for water retention in the warm, dry vintages the region is seeing more and more regularly. Jérôme Billard is the third generation of his family to look after the estate which his grandparents acquired in 1953. He is a trained oenologue and has rapidly become one of the most gifted Cabernet Franc winemakers in the Loire region. His entire range of wines, both red and white, were of such a high standard that it was a tricky job for me to select just one of his bottlings for this wine packet!

The wines here are all certified biodynamic and everything is as natural as can be, from the natural ecosystem and biodiversity which are immediately apparent in the vineyards to the specially designed, gravity-operated cellar, where the grapes are converted into wine without any harmful pumping of the must being necessary. Natural “wild” yeasts are used to ferment the grapes and the extraction of tannins from the skins is always as gentle as possible, with the aim of maximising the Cabernet Franc grapes’ delectable, sweet raspberry fruit flavours and elegance. After fermentation, the wine spends 12 months in large 500 litre oak casks to help its tannins to mellow and flavours to open up before being bottled.