WTN: Amirault Bourgueil La Coudraye 2005

Yannick Amirault Bourgueil La Coudraye 2005
A surprisingly dark deep-purple colour.
Lovely nose of boiled veg, slightly herbal-fresh wood, some earth and iron filings.
Medium bodied (a surprising 13.5%) with really lovely refreshing acidity, plenty of slightly-cohesive tannins, inky, vegetable flavours (like celery), more dark/black than red-toned fruit that lies hiding underneath.
This is a bit heavy for a Bourgueil, and I guess some Loire Cab Franc lovers might not go for that, though relative to other wines it’s not a heavy wine. It is very young now - the tannins are so solid - but it’s still very enjoyable. Has years ahead of it, I’d say. It has great complexity. I think it’s fantastic and I would thoroughly recommend it, especially for ageing.

Great mouth-watering description!! Yannick Amirault is a regular visitor to Belgium and he goes for ripe fruit and does not particularly recommend long ageing for his wines; I guess that he would like this 05 just as you describe it. That said, it is partly a matter of taste how evolved one likes one's wine and I expect that this one will age gracefully for some years but not, perhaps, be a 15 year wine like some Chinon, Dioterie and Chêne Vert from Joguet for example.

Good to see you joining the Loire-heads section Ben! Been a while since I have tasted a Bourgueil, thanks for the note.

does not particularly recommend long ageing for his wines... I expect that this one will age gracefully for some years but not, perhaps, be a 15 year wine like some Chinon, Dioterie and Chêne Vert from Joguet for example.

I was thinking it would probably "peak" in around 5 years from now (if one was looking for resolved tannins and some extra secondary aromatics). Have you found Amiraults' wines don't develop with age much?

I was thinking it would probably "peak" in around 5 years from now (if one was looking for resolved tannins and some extra secondary aromatics). Have you found Amiraults' wines don't develop with age much?

I don't think that I have ever aged an Amirault wine more than 8 or 9 years, at which juncture they are still drinking very well though it is hard to say that they gained a substantial plus compared with 5 or 6 years earlier. A well documented experiment would be interesting and your note here on the 05 Coudraye would be a good starting point.

The oldest vintage of his in my cellar is 2002, I think; a vintage with a tendency to unripe tannins which may benefit more than most from a bit of age.

His range does contain some tougher wines, e.g. La Petite Cave, which are harder to approach initially, but I have always found they retain expressiveness in the way of your Coudraye. Here is his website http://www.yannickamirault.fr/index.html in French only, it appears; this is a pity because it is more informative than many.

Thanks for the link Tim. Seeing a website like that makes me feel I need to buy a ticket, come home and buy some real wines!

Yesterday I had an enomatic serving (just a sip, really) of the 06 Amirault La Coudraie and LOVED the aromatics (lots of beautiful cherry and leather). I found it a bit lacking in body, otherwise would have bought some. The nose was certainly very impressive and made me curious about "denser" bottlings from Amirault, but only see the Coudraie available in the US.