2023 Gauthier Jour de Soif

The 2023 Bourgueil Jour de Soif is an entry-level cuvée from Domaine du Bel Air, produced by Pierre and Rodolphe Gauthier from 20-year-old organically farmed Cabernet Franc vines. The wine is sourced from parcels planted in 60% gravelly soils and 40% clay soils in the Bourgueil appellation of the Loire Valley. Made with lighter intervention in an unmanipulated style, this everyday drinking wine is designed to be fresh and approachable upon release while maintaining enough structure to age for up to a decade. The estate benefits from unique clay-limestone terroir and historic tufa caves used for aging.

$26.00

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Specs

Type: Red

Grapes: Cabernet Franc

Winemaker: Pierre Gauthier

Vintage: 2023

Geography

Country: France

Region: Loire Valley

Sub-region: Bourgueil

Vineyard: Domaine du Bel Air

Farming

Certified organic (Ecocert) since 2000. Vines planted in gravelly soils (60%) and clay soils (40%). Hand pruning, green harvesting, and yield limitation techniques employed. Cover cropping and bud-pruning practiced. Hand-picked fruit.

Harvest

Grapes are completely destemmed and sorted; produced from younger vines (approximately 20 years old) with a focus on structure and fine tannins; organically grown grapes

Fermentation

Cold pre-fermentation maceration (4 days cold maceration); traditional fermentation using native yeasts in concrete vats and stainless steel vats; gentle vatting lasting approximately 8 days with controlled pumping over and controlled temperature to preserve fruit characteristics; concurrent alcoholic and malolactic fermentation with focus on skin infusion

Aging

Aging on fine lees in stainless steel tanks (minimal oak influence) with bottling the following spring; 6 months aging on fine lees for some cuvées; 'Jour de Soif' cuvée aged in stainless steel tanks, while other top wines undergo extended maceration and are aged in 600-liter demi-muids with varying percentage of new oak; minimal SO2 added at bottling