2016 Domaine du Collier Charpentrie Saumur Rouge

Within a short period of time Antoine Foucault is already making some of the most exciting wines in the Loire Valley. The Domaine du Collier was created in 1999 by Antoine (son of Charly Foucault from the famed Clos Rougeard) and his wife Caroline. Having worked at Clos Rougeard for four years and still at the young age of 26 he took the opportunity to buy four-hectares of vines (through his family) in the commune of Brézé in the best lieu-dit of ‘La Ripaille’. The estate comprises 6 hectares with the vast majority of the estate planted to Chenin Blanc (including some 100 year old vines) and just under a hectare of Cabernet Franc.

Antoine is dedicated to natural viticulture, without the use of chemical treatments, fertilizers, or weed killers. The harvest is manual with strict sorting carried out in the vineyards. In his deep cellar, Antoine does not use commercial yeast, and doesn’t treat the wine with sulphur until bottling. The end results are brilliant and it is probably no surprise that demand for them is very high and as a result they can be very hard to find.

From terroir exactly like Rougeard's "Les Poyeux" (pure, almost beach sand, over limestone). A rare bottling from Antoine Foucault and what a wine. One of the great Loire Valley red's - aromatically it displays glissant, vibrant fruit on the nose, sweet blackcurrant with a gloriously perfumed seam. The palate is bright, with a succulent texture and terrific substance underneath the perfumed fruit. It feels stony but has all the resonance, complexity and depth you would expect from an estate of this calibre and, as attractive and glorious as it is in youth, time will only improve it.