Yannick Amirault, 2020 Bourgueil "Côte 50"
Domaine Yannick Amirault is one of my all time favourite producers in Bourgueil. The estate was established in 1977 by Yannick Amirault, and today Benoit, Yannick's son, works alongside his father, and they farm around 20 hectares of vineyards in both Bourgueil and St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil.
Today we're looking at their Côte 50 2020. This is coming from 4.5 hectares worth of vines in four different lieux-dits, all located in the Bourgueil commune: Les Sables, La Coudraye, Les Pins and Les Perrières.
In some previous videos, I've talked about the vineyard area in the Restigné and Benais communes, so today I'll give you a quick overview of the Bourgueil commune. So here, we are west of the Changeon River, and actually the Changeon flows from north to south, and then takes a hard right turn, and helps to define the southern border of the viticultural area in this commune.
In the Bourgueil commune, we have two distinct terroirs. We have the vineyards that are on the ancient alluvial terrace and we have a narrow band of vineyards that make up the côte, or the slopes. The ancient alluvial terrace starts just north of the Changeon River, so about 5km north of the Loire River, and stretches just under 2km to the north, and the vineyards are all dotted to the north and east of the village of Bourgueil.
So, I'm beginning notice in all of the major appellations for Cabernet Franc here in the central Loire that elevation plays a major role in determining what bedrock the vineyards are on and what sort of terroir we find. Now this elevation-terroir rule varies by appellation, but here in Bourgueil, this ancient alluvial terrace sits between 40 and 52m above sea level. And here, we have these very deep sandy-gravelly soils that sit atop the Lower Turonian tuffeau bedrock.
And the area of the côte is at the very north end of the commune. This is a narrow band of vineyards, 300 to 500m wide, on a much more dramatic slope, generally south-facing or southeast-facing, with a handful of east-facing slopes. These vineyards are at elevations from 60 to 82m above sea level, and here we have the influence of predominantly the Middle Turonian tuffeau.
So, these lieux-dits for today's wine are all situated at around 50m above sea level, hence the name Côte 50, and we are at the northern edge of the ancient alluvial terrace. In these parcels, we find very deep, mostly sandy soils, the depth is from 2m to around 6m in some parcels, with very little gravels. The vines are on average 35 years of age, and the parcels are all farmed certified organic.
The winemaking for this wine, all of the fruit was hand-harvested, twice sorted, and destemmed but not crushed. Fermentation takes place with indigenous yeast, in open top wooden fermenters. Maceration through infusion, and the wine stays on skins for about 3 weeks. Aging is in foudres for around 7 to 12 months, and bottled early to preserve the fruit.
Key wine wine facts below:
Producer: Yannick Amirault
Appellation: Bourgueil
Commune: Bourgueil
Lieux-Dits: Les Sables, La Coudraye, Les Pins, Les Perrières
Soils: Deep (2m-6m) sandy soils of the ancient alluvial terrace at ~50m a.s.l.
Alcohol: 13.5%
