About this WINE
Domaine de la Semellerie
Chinon
Chinon is an important appellation for the Cabernet Franc grape, located within the Touraine wine region just to the west of Tours. At approximately 2,500 hectares, it represents a slightly larger zone than its neighbour Bourgueil. Part of the appellation, closest to its other voisin St Nicolas de Bourgueil, possesses light, sandy gravel soils to give an easy drinking style, while the remainder is blessed with a tuffeau subsoil from which the wines draw a finer structure and longevity. Neither style approaches the fullness of Bourgueil however.
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
Located at the summit of the commune of Cravant-les-Coteaux, Domaine de la Semellerie could justifiably claim to have some of the best vineyard sites in Chinon. Given their high-altitude location, their vineyards are some of the coolest in Chinon, yet equally they also benefit from full exposure to the sun. Fabrice Delalande is the sixth generation to have made wine here, joining his father, Jean-Claude, in 1989.
This is irresistible and buoyant with juicy, crisp fruit, refreshing and sapid – gouleyant, as the French would say. Blended between the limestone high vineyards and the alluvial lower plots, this is the epitome of Cabernet Franc’s juicy and individual style in the Loire.
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