In 2014, this eponymous wine displays remarkably pure fruitiness making it excellently thirst-quenching. Delightful!
Wine characteristics
- Vintage : Château de Villeneuve
- Year : 2014
- Appellation : Saumur Champigny
- Colour : Red
- Grape types : 100 % Cabernet Franc
- Soil : chalk
- Harvest : manual
- Type of viticulture : organic
- Contenance : 75cl
Tasting - Cellaring
- Appearance : deep red
- Nose : red fruit
- Mouth : supple and fruity
- Serving temperature : 14-16 °C
- Cellaring : 3 to 5 years
- Drink from : 2015
- Winemaking process : steeping for 18 days in vats
- Maturation : 80% in vats and 20% in barrels
Food-matching
- Food-matching : a rustic buffet, roast poultry
Domain :
Covering 25 hectares, this historic estate of the appellation stands on chalky subsoil, producing white wines with excellent cellaring potential and uniform reds that are fresh, colourful and have a very pleasant fruitiness.
Appellation :
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This majestic river links various wine-growing sub-regions that go to make up the overall appellation, from the Massif Central to the Atlantic.
The Loire region extends over almost 1000 km and there are 4 sub-regions: Nantes, Anjou, Touraine and the Centre. There are 68 Appellations d’Origine Contrôlée.
Altogether, there are 65,000 hectares producing nearly 3,0000,000 hl of wine on average each year, of which 45% are whites, 22% rosés, 21% reds and 12% sparking wines.
The areas planted with vines stretch far and wide, with a number of different climatic influences, oceanic in the West, becoming more continental the further you get from the ocean.
Three words characterise these wines: diversity, quality and affordability.
Diversity, because the whites range from the driest to the sweetest, while the reds can be fruity or mineral.
Quality, thanks to the emergence of young, talented vignerons, coupled to a significant improvement in winemaking techniques.
Affordable, because there are some amazing quality-price-pleasure ratios to be found.
The main grape types for whites are melon and gros-plant around Nantes, chenin in Anjou and western Touraine, sauvignon in eastern Touraine and in the Centre.
The principal grapes used for making reds are gamay, cabernet franc and sauvignon, pinot noir and côt (or malbec).
Recent vintages
- 2011: very good maturity for reds, well-rounded and low in acidity. Dry whites more varied, but great sweet wines.
- 2012: a varied year for weather. Few sweet wines, but highly drinkable dry whites good for cellaring, particularly Sancerre. The reds are versatile and soft.
- 2013: fruity wines, easy to drink with low alcohol content.
- 2014: a great vintage in the two colours, with aromatic wines in their youth but with good racking potential. A remarkable balance between acidity, fruitiness and concentration.