Yannick Amirault, 2022 Bourgueil 'Côte 50'

No.27 | What's In My Glass

Earlier this week, I opened a bottle of 2022 Bourgueil ‘Côte 50’ from Domaine Yannick Amirault, a wine I had not revisited in probably eight or nine months or so. This wine was among my most memorable wines I enjoyed in 2023, and I was delighted by how this wine has changed since I last tasted it.

This cuvée is one of the estate’s “early-drinking” Cabernet Francs (along with ‘La Source’ from parcels in St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil), and it’s coming from multi parcels in the Bourgueil commune that are all situated towards the upper or northerly end of the ancient alluvial terrace, essentially at the foot of the slope, at an elevation of around 50m above sea level on average (hence Côte 50!). While we are on the alluvial terrace and the parcels are dominated by sandy soils with some gravels, there are some pockets with less topsoil (2m or so), so we start to see a little influence of the tuffeau chalk. The wine is vinified very simply in large wooden fermenters, 3 weeks of maceration through infusion (that is, no punch-downs or pump-overs), followed by short aging in a combination of large foudres and sandstone eggs for about 7 to 10 months.

From a solaire vintage, on release the 2022 was very fleshy and generous, which gave the wine an irresistibly alluring (read: dangerous!) drinkability, though at times I found myself wanting a bit more structural definition. While there was sufficient acidity to balance and refresh the palate, and the cashmere-like tannins provided a bit of framing, it did feel as though both were hiding a bit behind the plushness of the fruit. Early on, I tasted this wine over a couple of days with the hopes of “seeing” where it might go once it decided to shed its baby fat, and it often revealed much more depth and persistence than one might expect of a domaine’s early-drinking wine.

When I opened the wine this week, much to my delight, the wine had emerged into a new phase of its life. The aromas and flavours showing more nuance and layers, and less all about the fruit, with brambly dark and red fruits intermingling with notes of herbs (thyme, rosemary), evergreen (spruce, cedar), and white and purple florals - notes that, in the beginning, only presented after the wine had been open two or three days.

But what has really emerged and evolved is the wine’s structure and sense of place. The wine’s softer acidity presenting with more persistence and mouth-watering appeal, particularly on the finish, giving the wine more dynamism and verve. The cashmere-like tannins were more fine and uniform (think: the $300 cashmere sweater versus a $100 one), with firmness while still remaining supple. The wine is now beginning to reveal a certain “alluvial” energy, for lack of a better word (this is literally what I wrote in my notes, so humour me). That is to say the wine is open, broadly textured, round, layered with stony mineral undertones, spice and earth. The 2022 Côte 50 is a precise, honest, quietly confident wine, with loads of depth, personality and drinkability. What’s more is the wine has plenty more time ahead of it, and I expect it to evolve and improve over the short term, revealing even more to those that care to be patient and listen to what it has to say. I have a handful more bottles in my cellar, so I will continue to check in on it and report back.

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As I was tasting and enjoying this wine, I began meditating on something I’ve talked about from time to time over the years, but it is worth reiterating here. It would be customary for folks to refer to a wine like this as an “entry-level” wine, in that it is the least expensive, often highest volume cuvée in the range from a producer, and it is also crafted for earlier consumption. The term “entry-level” might suggest that a wine like this might somehow be inferior to the structured, age-worthy cuvées from the same producer.

But it is important to remember that for many of the top producers in the Loire, no less time, care and attention to detail goes into making their early-drinking Cabernet Francs. And for these vignerons, it is simply a question of knowing their vines and soils, and responding in the cellar by making a cuvée that showcases the parcels and the fruit at their very best. And yet we tend to celebrate the structured, age-worthy cuvées more, when really, for these early-drinking styles of Cabernet Franc, they deserve just as much praise, and it’s just a question of where they belong on the table and in our day-to-day lives.

For me, one of the great attributes of Cabernet Franc as a grape variety is its ability to excel in these fruit-forward, companionable, accessible styles, while still being captivating and complex. So, I think it is worth reframing how we think about some of these fruit-forward, early-drinking Loire Cabernet Francs as they can be just as serious (and often a lot more pleasurable) then we give them credit for.

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From the Archives!

Domaine Yannick Amirault is an elite producer in Bourgueil and one of my favourites. Below are some videos I’ve done featuring wines from this domaine:

2019 Bourgueil ‘Rosé d’Equinoxe’

2020 Bourgueil ‘Côte 50’

2020 St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil ‘Les Malgagnes’ Amphore