Touraine ‘Le Bécassou', Domaine des Echardières 2019 is no longer available

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Touraine Rouge Le Becassou Dom des Echardieres 2019

Touraine ‘Le Bécassou', Domaine des Echardières 2019

Red Wine from France - Loire

1 Reviews

Gamay with a little cabernet franc and malbec in support, fuller, riper and darker in colour in this ripe Loire vintage, but still best served on the cooler side, with tasty charcuterie or a steak and chips.

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Code: LO16531

Wine characteristics

Red Wine
Medium-bodied
Gamay
13.5% Alcohol
no oak influence
Cork, agglomerate

Domaine des Echardières

The 16 hectares of the Domaine des Echardières lie on the left bank of the river Cher quite close to the famous renaissance château of Chenonceaux. Owner Luc Poullain bought the domaine as a going concern in 2000, when he was 30 years old and not long after returning from studying agricultural engineering in England and taking on a career selling chemicals to wine growers. He is now the president of the recently created Touraine Chenonceaux appellation for red and white wines.

Indeed his vineyards are split almost evenly between cabernet franc gamay, and malbec (here called côt) for the reds and sauvignon blanc for the whites, and he makes wines under the new appellation as well as the wider Touraine AC. The soils are varied but with the common theme of limestone with some flint running throughout, on well-oriented slopes. The sauvignon is grown exclusively on flinty, chalky clays, giving the resultant wines an extra aromatic dimension and minerality.

The sites for reds need to be in excellent spots in order that the malbec consistently reaches proper maturity and the valley of the Cher, with a slightly warmer microclimate than some parts of Touraine, provides such conditions with the desired regularity.

Luc’s philosophy is one of sustainability, working happily within the environmentally friendly guidelines of the Terravitis movement, and employing a nicely poised balance between traditional methods and modern practices such as thermo-regulated stainless-steel vats.

Loire Vintage 2019

Yet another exceptional vintage! Perhaps these atypical years are the vintages of the future? 2019 was another year of extremes and nail biting, with temperatures even in the Loire Atlantique nudging 40C more than once last summer. With so little rain, there were concerns over whether the fruit would actually ripen, but sure enough, some rain did arrive: a little in mid-August, a little more in early to mid-September, depending on the location, refreshing the vines and allowing them to ripen their healthy fruit in fine conditions.

There will be some great reds, with the chance to keep some in store for the future. Whites are ripe and healthy, with, remarkably, a little more freshness than the 2018s, so it will be a great year to explore the length of the Loire.