Yannick Amirault Saint-Nicolas-De-Bourgueil La Mine Canernet Franc

ORIGIN France
APPELLATION Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil
SOIL Clay limestone, gravel
AGE OF VINES 40 ELEVATION 40 meters
VARIETIES Cabernet Franc
FARMING Certified organic (AB)
FERMENTATION
Hand harvested in successive passes, destemmed, natural yeast fermentation in oak vats, 4-5 week maceration
AGING Aged 8-12 months in 400L French oak barrels and sandstone amphorae

Domaine Amirault was founded in 1977 by Yannick with only 3.9 hectares of vines he inherited from his grandfather, Eugène Amirault. Since that time he and his son Benoît, who joined the family business in 2003, have expanded their holding to 20 hectares of vineyards in both Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil. An early skeptic of industrial farming practices, Yannick had gradually weaned his vineyards off synthetic inputs, completing this process in 1997. Work in the vineyard and cellar follows the lunar calendar and the estate received organic certification in 2009. While these practices may seem fashionable, they are simply a return to the way Eugène Amirault made wine for his family.

Under Benoît the existing minimalistic cellar practices have become even more transparent. Harvest has always been done by hand and is initiated by many factors all guided by Yannick and Benoît’s combined experience. Each parcel is picked at its own optimal ripeness and in several passes and the bunches are transported to the cellar where they are sorted again and destemmed. Fermentations are indigenous and conducted in large, open-topped, conical oak vats. Macerations are long, lasting up to sixty days with pigeage only at the very beginning of the fermentation and rémontage reserved only for the ripest vintages and cuvées to prevent more rustic tannins in the wines. Only the first press is used and is aged in neutral vessels: amphorae, French oak demi-muids, and well-seasoned oak vats. New wood is added only to replenish their stock of barrels. Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil La Mine La Mine is sourced from several plots of gravelly clay soils including a parcel called La Mineraie situated at the foot of Malgagnes. Totally about 1.5 hectares altogether, these parcels express themselves with red fruit flavors with notes of angelica and graphite finishing with soft, well-integrated tannins.

ACCOLADES 92 – 2019 La Mine – Wine Advocate