Chinon: l'Arpenty 2009
Description
Chinon l'Arpenty 2009 from Francis Desbourdes is a youthful and fruity red wine with a welcome absence of hard tannins. The ripe raspberry flavours blend with cool minerally notes. Served lightly chilled, it is a versatile with a range of foods but, traditionally, with goat’s cheese.
- Style: Red Wine, Dry (Sec), Medium-bodied
- Region: Loire, Chinon,
- Producer: Francis Desbourdes
- Vintage: 2009
- Grape variety (Cépage): Cabernet Franc
- Wine pairing - drink with: Charcuterie, Goat's Cheese
- Cellarage: Drinks well young and responds to short-term ageing.
- Vinification: Grapes are fully de-stalked before a two week alcoholic fermentation. The wine is then stored off its lees in subterranean tanks before a late spring (end of April) bottling.
- Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 12.5%
- Full Tasting Notes (PDF): Download
Chinon: l'Arpenty 2009
Chinon has a rich viticultural history. Cabernet Franc is rumoured to have been introduced from Bordeaux by Cardinal Richelieu in1631. Its fame was further enhanced by the writer François Rabelais who was born near Chinon and often wrote of the region. There are extensive plantings in Chinon and production tends to be polarised between large négoçiants and (very small) smallholders. Monsieur Desbourdes is typical of the latter having taken over the vineyard from his late father Raymond.
What others think of this wine...
Christelle Guibert and Mark O’Halleron - Decanter Magazine, March 2012. says:L'Arpenty produces just a single wine, so it gets plenty of care and attention. Red and green pepper on the nose, with spice and redcurrant fruit. An enjoyable, easy-drinking style, with firm fruit and tannins forming the backbone, and more spice on the finish. 4stars, 17 points.
Ned Halley, Western Daily Press 16th July 2011 says:Long and lush, it has the hallmark leafy hedgerow aroma of the Cabernet Franc in full flourish, and the corresponding ripe brambliness of the fruit really does make for the proverbial summer in a glass – especially a glass just a little misted from the chilling of the wine. And there is no wine quite like Chinon.
Amanda Moorhouse in the Shooting Gazette August 2010 says:(Writing to match Amy Willcock's recipe of grouse in plum sauce): I've chosen a glorious velvety wine with which to celebrate the Glorious Twelfth - a Chinon from the Loire Valley. L'Arpenty 2009 is a medium-bodied red wine which is versatile enough to be drunk on it's own, due to the refreshing lack of tanins, but also admirally matches Amy's mouth-watering combination of plums and grouse.
Made with Cabernet Franc grapes, this wine is youthful and fruity, with a nose that transports you to hedgerows full of juicy blackberries.You can serve it lightly chilled, if the stars are all aligned, should suit the August weather perfectly.
It costs £11.25 from Decanter magazine's award-winning specialist wine merchant, Yapp Brothers, who specialise in wines from the Loire.
Jane MacQuitty - The Times July 2010 says:Tucking into a cool, chilled glass of a young red fruit-stacked Loire red, made from the cabernet franc grape, is one of the great joys of summer. Made exclusively from cabernet franc, this chinon, like the L'Hurluberlu, comes from one of the region's small growers, not big merchants, so you get lots more fruit and flavour. In this case lots of delicious, velvety, verdant, violet and raspberry-scented fruit. Locals like drinking this with goat's cheese.
Malcolm Gluck - wine writer says:I am a sucker for refined cabernet franc. Or rather, I am a sipper. This is one of the proudest examples of the grape, offering a crumpled velvet texture, black cherry fruit with a slate roof undertone, and it has a hint of earth on the finish. There is also a grilled edge which lingers on the palate. Balzac in a bottle would be one way of describing it.
Score: 17 points.
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