BOURGUEIL

Bourgueil is made from a grape variety that, until recently, the rest of the world regarded as little more than a minor player, a support act for Cabernet Sauvignon and/or Merlot in blends. Now Cabernet Franc is right up there with the grape fashionistas, used as a solo star by winemakers as far afield as Chile and Argentina, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand and Languedoc and appreciated in these warmer climates for the leafy freshness and spicy lift it gives. But the Loire Valley is still its heartland – in Chinon, Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil and Saumur Champigny as well as Bourgueil – there producing medium-bodied reds with beautifully fresh fruit, fine texture and mineral coolness. Yannick Amirault's Bourgueil La Coudraye is a textbook example of crunchy blackcurrant and currant-leaf freshness with a streak of spice and minerally graphite flavours. Polished, authentic and wonderfully approachable, from an organic estate where everything is hand-picked and fermented with natural yeasts. Serve it cool with such things as lamb, tuna, carpaccio, charcuterie, summer veg, pesto. 13%. 'Wine of the Week'Joanna Simon, www.joannasimon.com(Jul 2019)