Domaine Jourdan
2016 "L'Arcestrale" Chinon Cabernet Franc

The top cuvée, L'Arcestrale, is an homage to fine Bordeaux, made only in good years. This comes from the domain's best Cab Franc vines, which grow in two parcels on the plain and the hillside, and the wine is aged in wood, 25% of which is new. The result is pure, concentrated-yet-elegant Cabernet Franc using organic principles from average 45-year-old vines. Perfume and fruit purity are the hallmarks of Pichard & Jourdan wines.

The 2016 falls structurally in-between the the 2014 and 2015 with a scintillating bouquet of umami leather and exotic spice with a ripe black fruit and earth amalgam underpinning high-toned peppery florals. Exquisitely balanced with chiseled mineral energy launching dark fruit, vanilla and chocolate with a lush rose petal retronasal blast. Fantastique!