2020 St Nicolas de Bourgueil, Les Rouillères, Frédéric Mabileau, Loire
Critics reviews
The 2020 Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil Les Rouillères is reductive at this stage, but I am tasting this a year before it is due to be bottled. The sandy/gravel plot provides a bright, supple and joyful style of wine. It's all crunchy red fruits and violets with no oak, allowing the fruit to shine. Fleshy, attractive and hugely drinkable. One for enjoying in youth.
With the untimely passing of Frédéric Mabileau on the eve of the 2020 harvest, his son Rémy stepped up to take the reins after spending three years working with his father at the domaine. The family was an early adopter of organic viticulture, which translates to indigenous fermentations and low-sulfur regimens in the winery.
The domaine is based in Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil and owns parcels across the appellation and neighbouring Bourgueil and Chenin Blanc in Saumur. Cabernet Franc has several faces here, from the upfront vivacity of Les Rouillères on gravel soils to the rich, brooding Racines on clay-rich parcels in Bourgueil.
Drink 2021 - 2026
Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous.com (October 2021)
About this WINE
Frédéric Mabileau
Situated in the village of Saint-Nicolas-De-Bourgueil, Domaine Frédéric Mabileau is a byword for biodynamic and organic viticulture. The estate was created by Frédéric and his wife Nathalie when they struck out separately from Frédéric’s parents in 1991. Beginning with just 3 hectares of rented vines, the couple built up the estate over several decades until the tragic death of Frédéric on the eve of the 2020 harvest.
The locals rallied around to help with picking that vintage, and his sons – Rémy, who had been working by his side for several years, and Charly, who was running a restaurant in Bordeaux – along with Frédéric’s wife, Nathalie, took over the reins permanently. The spirit of Frédéric’s inexhaustible enthusiasm for experimentation and progressiveness lives on. For Frédéric, the choice to farm biodynamically was not an end; instead, it allowed the wines to reflect the terroir more effectively.
This also meant no yeasts were added in the cellar, relying only on naturally occurring yeasts to start fermentation. In their view, this enhances the “sense of place” of these wines. New parcels have recently been added to bring the holdings to 35 hectares, of which 11 are in Anjou and 24 in Saint-Nicolas and Bourgueil. An ambitious new cellar project was completed in 2020, along with an on-site restaurant, Chez Odette, run by Charly.
Bourgueil
Bourgueil is a qualitatively-important, dry red wine appellation in Touraine, if quantitatively small (1,500 hectares).
Located west of Tours, its vineyards are planted with Cabernet Franc on calcareous clay and sandy soils gently inclined south, towards the River Loire. The wines are medium to full-bodied and fleshy, possessing rich, perfumed raspberry and forest-fruit characters, underpinned by a fine structure with the potential for up to 20 years ageing. Wines are vinified for up to 18 months in French oak barrels.
Recommended producers: Domaine de la Butte (Jacky Blot), Domaine de la Chevalerie
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc is widely planted in Bordeaux and is the most important black grape grown in the Loire. In the Médoc it may constitute up to 15% of a typical vineyard - it is always blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and is used to add bouquet and complexity to the wines. It is more widely used in St.Emilion where it adapts well to the cooler and moister clay soils - Cheval Blanc is the most famous Cabernet Franc wine in the world, with the final blend consisting of up to 65% of the grape.
Cabernet Franc thrives in the Loire where the cooler growing conditions serve to accentuate the grape's herbaceous, grassy, lead pencil aromas. The best wines come from the tuffeaux limestone slopes of Chinon and Bourgeil where growers such as Jacky Blot produce intense well-structured wines that possess excellent cellaring potential.
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Description
Les Rouillères is the Mabileau family’s calling card; pure, unadulterated Cabernet Franc made with minimal intervention; organic fruit, gentle extraction, absolutely no oak and a small amount of sulphur. It clearly expresses Cabernet Franc grown on the sandy gravel soils of Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil. The nose has charming, red-black fruit and a touch of pencil shavings, while the palate bursts with juicy and succulent fruit coated in sweet, ripe tannins. A true vin de soif that will quench your thirst and pair with almost anything.
Drink now - 2025
Adam Bruntlett, Senior Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd (September 2022)
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