You could say that this is a Cabernet Franc from the Loire, and it would be correct, but it wouldn’t go any way towards describing what it really is, any more than saying Rembrandt’s ‘The Night Watch’ is paint on canvas. If you are prepared to loosen your collar a little, then you might find alchemy here, the magical transformation of matter into something greater than its component parts, taking raw ingredients and elevating them into something beautiful and ineffable; heady aromas that combine the ethereal and the elemental; flavours that weave together like a vast, silk brocade. Let your imagination run riot. Or maybe don’t, it’s also fine if it’s just a nice drink. 100% Cabernet Franc. After fermentation, the wine was transferred by gravity into old Bordeaux barrels, then aged for 2 years in used Bordeaux and Loire barrels. 13% alc. 70 year-old vines. Drink now-2040.

Press review:

The Wine Advocate (previous vintage): “From 60-year-old vines on Jurrassic limestone, the Saumur Les Cormiers opens with a beautifully fruity and concentrated, initially rather spicy more than floral bouquet of blackcurrants intertwined with peppery and raw meat notes. Only with time does the bouquet change and become totally fascinating in its finesse and fragrant fruit aromas. In fact, more and more redcurrant, raspberry and blueberry aromas pop up and make you think of the finest Burgundies from Vosne, from Musigny... Concentrated, tight and complex on the palate, this is a generous, dense and fleshy yet silky-textured and elegant Saumur Cabernet with great finesse and very fine tannins. The grapes were macerated for six weeks in an open wooden 40-hectolitre fermenter from Burgundy, and the wine aged for 26 months in 50% new oak barrels.” 95 points

EXTREMELY LIMITED. MAXIMUM 1 BOTTLE PER CUSTOMER. NOT AVAILABLE ON ITS OWN, MUST BE PART OF AN ORDER THAT MEETS OUR MINIMUM REQUIREMENT OF 6 BOTTLES. UK MAINLAND ONLY.