2016 Chateau de Bois-Brincon Anjou "Le Seigneurie", Loire Valley, France

ABOUT THIS WINE

La Seigneurie comes from three hectares of Cabernet Franc vines, planted on tuffeau terroir (a local limestone of the Loire Valley) of the Turonian. The vines, with an average age over 40 years, benefit from an open landscape with favorable amounts of sunshine. The grapes are destemmed and macerate anywhere between 8 to 21 days, helping extract gentle tannins. After fermentation in cement, the wine is pressed and racked to stainless steel for 12 months, followed by additional aging in neutral barrel for 6 months.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

In the heart of Anjou stands Château de Bois-Brinçon, a domaine founded in 1219 by the Saint Jean d’Angers hospital. The domaine remained church property until 1791, when it was confiscated by the state and sold as a national asset. Xavier Cailleau is now the fifth generation of his family to own and work some of the oldest plantings of Chenin Blanc, Grolleau, and Cab Franc — 125 years and older — in the Loire. Xavier and his wife Géraldine, along with a small team, farm their 24 hectares biodynamically, out of profound conviction and in perpetuation of tradition, to offer “the true face of the soil.”