In addition to his Bourgueil, Clos de Pavée, Pierre has now branched out to make a second wine - another very tasty take on Cabernet Franc, this time geared up for easy drinking and quaffing at the bistro table. Find out more.
About the Wine
This is a young, crunchy Bourgueil full of bright cranberry and cherry fruit and plenty of the herbaceous capsicum notes you'd expect from the grape. Highly fragrant with charred green pepper on the nose and the finish leads to bitter dark chocolate. A really delicious, fresh expression of Bourgueil
Pierre has changed the process up a little with the 2021 vintage, now opting for an 80/20 blend of de-stemmed maceration and whole bunch carbonic, keeping the overall tannic structure fine. Élevage now follows the same ratios, the larger number being raised in fibreglass cuve and the smaller in a collection of old, used barriques that Pierre has recently acquired, introducing a rounder feel to the finished wine. The grapes, as ever, come from the young vines of Cabernet Franc planted over gravelly limestone in the beautiful walled clos that gives the wine its name.
About Pierre Borel
Pierre is the definition of the small grower. He works alone, tending to a single 2-hectare parcel of young-vine Cabernet Franc in a beautiful walled garden in the heart of Bourgueil. Pierre has obtained his organic certification, which is aided no end by the vineyard’s seclusion; the sleepy village to one side of the walls and woodland to the other, meaning no risk of contamination from neighbouring growers who aren’t following the same practises. He works under the AOC of Bourgueil as he believes his wines are true to the style of the region, although most certainly on the more expressive side. Simplicity is key here - Pierre makes only one wine, and seeks to vinify in as straightforward a way as possible. The sandy limestone gravel soils yield fragrant fruit which is fermented in a simple chai (basically a shed) that comprises one large tank of stainless steel and one of fibreglass. The wine is racked off the skins after a couple of weeks and is bottled from tank, with no barrel ageing. Pierre’s wine is honest, understated and everything we love about Cabernet Franc from this part of France; plush, herbaceous and, as his vines mature, growing deeper and more complex with each passing vintage.
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