Domaine de la Cotelleraie has long been one of our favourite producers in St Nicolas de Bourgueil so it was great to catch up with Anne-Claire Vallée last week when we popped in to pick up a selection of wines to share with our wine tasting guests.
It’s a family domaine just outside the centre of the village, a pretty property with a newly updated tasting room and fabulous cellar.
The domaine is always on the move, always looking to improve and every time we go, something has changed.
This was the first time that we had a good look at the amphorae that go into the making of their most recent wine, Posthumus. Amphorae are very ‘in’ at the moment. The clay breathes so they are very interesting from a vinification perspective. No wood notes but the benefit of some oxygen.
Posthumus is a great wine. Quite unlike any other in their portfolio. Clearly the vinification and ageing in amphorae changes everything.
From the 2018 vintage ( a sunny Loire vintage that gave great reds from the Loire), it’s just packed with lovely floral aromas and ripe redcurrant fruit on the nose. There’s a hint of dried fruit and a teensy note of those fruity boiled sweets that you keep in the car for a long journey (know the ones I mean?).
On the palate it’s rich and ripe with lovely concentration and the acidity keeps it fresh and elegant. A really interesting wine.
It’s a Cab Franc of course like all the other wines in the appellation of St Nicolas de Bourgueil.
Here are a few pics taken while we were there.
