Domaine Jeanne Germain - Saumur Champigny 'La Foulée' Cabernet Franc 2024

Red wine

Region: Loire Valley

Appellation: AOC Saumur Champigny 

Grape: 100% Cabernet Franc

La foulée is the stride of a horse. Jeanne Germain spent twelve years in the saddle before training in animal traction, and she works her soils behind two Ardennais draught horses, Ben and Comtesse. This was her first wine, released in 2019, and it is named for them.The domaine runs to 1.7 hectares around Varrains, Chaintres and Saumur, all Cabernet Franc, farmed alongside her partner Florent. CavesaCavesa

La Foulée comes off the clay, and that is what sets it apart from her sandier sites. Where those give you crunch and immediacy, the clay gives depth and weight through the middle, and a wine that rewards a little patience in the glass.

Vines average around twenty-five years. Everything is picked by hand into crates and passed over a sorting table before it reaches the tank. Fully destemmed, close to three weeks on skins, then eight months split between an old twelve hectolitre Marc Grenier foudre and old barrels. Unfiltered, and bottled with no added sulphur.

Expect dark wild berries, a graphite line, gentle spice and a whisper of smoke on the finish. Tannins are fine grained, and the shape is vertical rather than broad.