2005 Domaine Jacky et Fabrice Gasnier "Cuvée Vieilles Vignes" Chinon Loire Valley France. $16.00; Moore Brothers Wine Company, 33 E. 20th St. at Broadway, NYC.
I've been abstaining from alcohol this month, but tasting and spitting as usual. I read about this wine in the "Sun", and stopped by Friday to taste it and buy a few bottles. It's just delicious and a great QPR, so I'll post a tasting note. Kramer called it "stunning", and I agree. Especially at this price point.
Deep red color, deep hue, incredible aromas and tastes of rich fruit, spice, and licorice, medium mouth feel, smooth tannins, good acidity, great balance, long finish. 4*.
Notes: No winery website.
Matt Kramer: Usually the price appears at the end of these recommendations. But not this week. Cost? $16. By today's wine standards, that's bubkes. How good can it be? Try stunning.
The story here is one of unfashionableness. The Loire Valley isn't Burgundy, and Chinon's native grape, cabernet franc, isn't pinot noir. Right there, prices get depressed due to the old supply and demand equation.
Many tasters — including professional critics who should know better — don't like Loire Valley cabernet franc. They find it green and weedy. Sometimes it is, thanks to excessive yields and overly cool growing seasons. That's not a problem with this beauty. The 2005 vintage in the Loire was about as perfect as it gets, with lavish but not oppressive warmth.
Fabrice Gasnier is a fourth-generation winegrower in his early 30s, whose family traditionally sold its wine to local shippers up until the mid-1990s. With 56 acres of vines in Chinon, nearly all of which are cabernet franc, the Gasnier family made a slow transition to estate bottling. That's why this estate is still so little known.
This 2005 Chinon, designated "Cuvée Vieilles Vignes," comes from 45-year-old vines, is 100% cabernet franc, does not have an apparent oakiness, and is simply superb. It's a deeply colored, rich, intense red wine with superb acidity and lovely scents of licorice, plums, and spice. It's swell drinking today, but will do nothing but improve for upward of a decade if stored in a cool space.
You can check availability, compare prices and order this wine from various retailers through Wine-Searcher.com.