An exciting red wine full of energy - with fresh red berries and a hint of black pepper - it's a little to easy to finish the bottle before you know it (whilst drinking solo of course ).
The wine is from Domaine Le Briseau, situated in the Loire and was established by Christian Chaussard and Nathalie Gaubicher in 2002. The winery works almost excusively with Pineau d'aunis - a lesser known grape variety mainly grown in the Loire, which was in fact a favourite of King Henry III!
The name Pineau comes from the French word pin, and refers to the pine cone shape that the bunch of grapes resemble. Aunis is an area within the Charente-Maritime department which was owned by the British monarchy through Eleanor of Aquitaine, Duchess of Aquitaine, who was married to the French king Louis VII and then moved onto English king Henry II. It's believed that grape variety may have been planted here at some point in the past, but not anymore. However, our favourite wine writer Oz Clarke believes that the grape was named after a priory named "Aunis" that was situated just outside the commune of Saumur in the Loire during the Middle Ages.
A biodynamic and organic approach is taken when making the wines, so no pesticides, insecticides or chemical fertilizers are used. The harvest is done by hand, native yeasts are used, an alcoholic fermentation in oak barrels, no sulphur is added and the grapes are tread by foot.
This interesting wine is a fruity little number with a inticing peppery kick; rose petals, freshly picked strawberries, a real exciting acidity and moderate tannins make it a real easy to drink wine - full of pure love from the wine makers.
Heard in London
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