2016 Frederic Mabileau Les Rouilleres

Frédéric Mabileau is an organic-certified, biodynamic grower based in Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil. Run by Frédéric and Nathalie Mabileau, with son Rémy also working in the business, the family’s winegrowing history goes back to 1620. The juicy, pure Les Rouillères Cabernet Franc from Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil is the estate’s most important wine, and its sibling Chenin Blanc from Anjou makes a handsome pair. A faithful portrait of this section of the Loire Valley is completed with a Pineau d'Aunis and more complex renditions of Cabernet Franc.

It was with les Rouillères that it all began, the St Nicolas cuvée par excellence: light, fruity and full of finesse. This wine epitomises everything that this unique terroir offers in terms of purity, freshness and pleasure. The fruit comes from vines with an average age of 38 years, planted on gravelly sand soils and hand-harvested at 27hl/ha. Fully destemmed and sorted on a table before a pre-ferment cold soak. Fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel, without pigeage but regularly pumped over. The wine spends four months in stainless steel and is naturally cold stabilised. It's racked twice prior to bottling.