Maunoury - AOC Saumur "Mon nom est Rouge" 2022 750ml (13-14% ABV)

Puy-Notre-Dame is a little hill of chalk 20 kilometers south of the city of Saumur, sort of on the border of between the more limestone bedrock of the greater Saumur region, and the more superficial soils of Anjou noir. In 2015, after studying with such illustrious vignerons as Marc Angeli, Vouette and Sorbée, Pierre Gonin, Chandon de Briailles, and -naturally- Melaric, Jonathan settled in this little goldilocks zone of tuffeau vineyards.

(Tuffeau is this sort of wet and crumbly bedrock that makes up all the caves of Saumur including the ones you walked through at La Dive! It's alluvial like schist, but not so much, and it produces a lot of power, but not as much as pure limestone). 

Anyway, as a result of this interesting terroir and it being one of the driest places in France, the wine here is known for its muscularity and aromatic complexity. Also because it tastes very good. 

-Steven Graf (importer)

ripe & juicy cab. franc (without any green pepper notes yay) 

region: loire valley, france

varietal: cab franc

style: chillable or non chillable red

farming & cellar : Vines planted from 1997 to 1999.
Shallow soil (60 cm), stony with clay-limestone dominance on green chalk rock. Chalky rock (tuffeau from the middle Turonian period). Plots located at mid-slope (60-70 m altitude) on the western side of the Puy Notre Dame hillock. Certified organic since 1998 and worked biodynamically (nettle, horsetail, willow teas, and comfrey purines applied), certified biodynamic in 2017. 1 part sees a 5 day maceration.
1 part is a semi-carbonic maceration in whole clusters.
Months in tank, bottled in April of 2021.

pairing: chill it down with trout meunière