Domaine de la Butte Bourgueil Mi-Pente 2011
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Other Vintages
2020-
James
Suckling
-
Wine
Spectator
Blot employs the same exacting “lutte raisonee” vineyard practices in tending his white grapes in Montlouis and Vouvray. All the rows are plowed and no chemicals are used, to encourage the roots to penetrate deep into the subsoil. Blot keeps his yields low by removing buds at the beginning of the growing season and green harvesting in August. He removes leaves order to increase exposure to the sun, ensure aeration of the vines, and facilitate hand harvesting. All grapes are hand selected and picked at optimal maturity and then placed in small boxes for transport to the winery, where they are further sorted on a table de tri. The fruit is destemmed and descends by gravity into wooden and concrete fermentation tanks. Blot ferments each cuvee for different periods of time, using only native yeast.
Cabernet Franc, a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, is the subtler and more delicate of the Cabernets. Today Cabernet Franc produces outstanding single varietal wines across the wine-producing world. Somm Secret—One of California's best-kept secrets is the Happy Canyon appellation of Santa Barbara. Here Cabernet Franc shines as a single varietal wine or in blends, expressing sumptuous fruit, savory aromas and polished tannins.
Praised for its stately Renaissance-era chateaux, the picturesque Loire valley produces pleasant wines of just about every style. Just south of Paris, the appellation lies along the river of the same name and stretches from the Atlantic coast to the center of France.
The Loire can be divided into three main growing areas, from west to east: the Lower Loire, Middle Loire, and Upper/Central Loire. The Pay Nantais region of the Lower Loire—farthest west and closest to the Atlantic—has a maritime climate and focuses on the Melon de Bourgogne variety, which makes refreshing, crisp, aromatic whites.
The Middle Loire contains Anjou, Saumur and Touraine. In Anjou, Chenin Blanc produces some of, if not the most, outstanding dry and sweet wines with a sleek, mineral edge and characteristics of crisp apple, pear and honeysuckle. Cabernet Franc dominates red and rosé production here, supported often by Grolleau and Cabernet Sauvignon. Sparkling Crémant de Loire is a specialty of Saumur. Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc are common in Touraine as well, along with Sauvignon Blanc, Gamay and Malbec (known locally as Côt).
The Upper Loire, with a warm, continental climate, is Sauvignon Blanc country, home to the world-renowned appellations of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. Pinot Noir and Gamay produce bright, easy-drinking red wines here.