2019 Yannick Amirault Bourgueil Grand Clos, Loire Valley

This wine is produced from old vines averaging more than 45 years old which are located around the middle of the slope on the best soils. The soils are superficially clay with flint, a mix also known as perruches, with deeper limestone. The wine is matured in 400 litre demi-muid barrels for 24 months and is the richest and deepest wine in his cellar.

In great years the wine is a thick almost impenetrable black colour with amazing concentration and depth of mulberry and black raspberry fruit with anise and spice notes that linger for ages. This is a wine that shows very well at a relatively young age in ripe years like 2019, and which will also age effortlessly for decades.

This wine has remarkable depth of fruit supported by substantial fine tannins with just enough acidity to keep the wine fresh and appetizing without becoming too heavy. From the outstanding 2019 vintage, this is a remarkably fresh and pure wine of substantial depth and structure. This is Bourgueil, and Cabernet Franc, at its finest.

From low-yielding Cabernet Franc vines that average 45 years of age and root in the silex clay soils of the côte, the 2019 Bourgueil Le Grand Clos opens with a 2019 Yannick Amirault Bourgueil Grand Clos, Loire Valley along with refreshing lemony and spicy notes. Round and very elegant on the palate, this is a beautifully balanced Grand Clos with a concentrated finish with tight but fine tannins and a fresh acidity that gives a positive astringency. The aftertaste is long and intense but always in balance and underlines the remarkable finesse of this wine that aged for 12 to 18 months in 400-liter tonneaux. Tasted in June 2021.

94 points Stephan Reinhardt robertparker.com August 2021