Clau de Nell | Loire | Cabernet Franc AOC | 2018 | 750ml | bio

Description

Product description for Clau de Nell Cabernet Franc AOC 2018 (bio)

Wine Information

The Cabernet Franc vines are 45 to 55 years old. The vines grow in loamy, silty soil on sandstone and in red flint on tuffeau (limestone). The yield is 40 hl/ha. The grapes were harvested by hand in 12-kilo crates. They were destemmed and fermented for 30 days with only occasional pumping over. The wine was then aged for 12 months on the fine lees in Burgundy pièces aged five to seven years. The cuvée then matured for a further six months in individual barrels.

Colour

Intense purple

Nose

The 2018 Cabernet Franc from Clau de Nell combines its origins with the typical ripeness of the vintage. On the one hand, there is still the robust and down-to-earth character that you only find in Cabernet Franc in the Loire these days, but on the other, all of this is wrapped up in a wonderful creaminess and ripeness. There are plenty of blackberries, black cherries, and cassis here, concentrated almost like a liqueur, but then fanned out and refreshed by a hint of cool stone and light tobacco. The aroma is rounded off by a few dates, licorice, and garrigue.

Palate

On the palate, the Cabernet displays warmth and ripeness, but at the same time, it has wonderfully firm, grippy tannins, a few cool notes, a lean, ripe, yet present acidity, and a lively minerality. The dark fruit is accompanied by a sunlit forest floor, tobacco, and cedar wood. A charming Cabernet Franc with a hedonistic fruitiness and inner density that is also full of vitality.

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Keywords: Clau de Nell Cabernet Franc AOC 2018 bio Loire France

Wine Advocate

Score: 93+

The 2018 Anjou Cabernet Franc is from sandstone and red silex soils and opens with a deep, intense and concentrated dark berry and cherry aroma intertwined with iodine and some plummy notes with crystalline sugar notes and baked blueberry aromas. Silky, rich and intense on the palate, this is an elegant, deep, refined, long and complex Cab Franc with a tight tannin structure, and kumquat and somewhat brutish aromas. The wine has great aging potential, but it’s very individual, with dense fruit but ripe and elegant tannins. Tasted at the domaine in June 2021.
Stephan Reinhardt

Vinous

Score: 90

The 2018 Anjou Cabernet Franc is serious and structured, showing the ripeness of this vintage in its breadth, ripe fruit and slightly heady aromas. Produced from 45-year-old vines that yield 35–40hl/ha, this is soft and tender on entry, but the tannins build like a square frame, leaving a structured finish. Integrated use of oak is evidenced by a hint of vanilla from a small percentage of new barrels (less than 10% new). The finish is fragrant with lingering violets and savory notes; there is a question over the light barnyard element and the slightly drying finish. At this early stage, it’s a little awkward and needs some time – or if you don’t have time, a little air.
— Rebecca Gibb MW
Drinking window: 2022 – 2030
Review date: Oct 2021

Producer website: https://claudenell.fr/en/home/