Saumur Champigny Wine
The Filliatreau family has been at the forefront of the campaign to galvanise young wine makers in the region and encourage them to make widespread improvements in their vineyard and cellar management. The ethos behind this mentality is that if standards and quality can be raised across the board, everyone will benefit. They are certainly leading by example, as recent releases have been superb and we have had to increase the frequency of our shipments to meet demand.
Their principal wine is the classic 'Domaine Filliatreau' Saumur-Champigny - juicy and youthful and packed with summer berry tastes. Made for early drinking, it is hugely popular on the Parisian restaurant scene where it is traditionally drunk lightly chilled with grilled red meat or substantial salads. 'La Grande Vignolle' is a mid-weight bottling with rather more depth and concentration. It can match quite robust cuisine and can benefit from some bottle-age.
The flagship cuvée 'Vieilles Vignes' from octogenarian vines is a dense, dark, complex and age-worthy wine that has a wonderful core of ripe cassis flavours and a fine structure of tannins. It has been memorably described by journalist Matthew Jukes as "A mesmerising and peerless glimpse of what Loire Cabernet Franc is capable of." It should be decanted before drinking and can mature happily for a decade or more. Indeed, we are such big fans of this wine that we ship it in every conceivable format from humble half-bottles up to mighty jeroboams.
