Clos du Tue-Boeuf 'La Guerrerie' 2023 Loire Valley, France

Grape: 90% Côt (Malbec), 10% Gamay

Style: Medium bodied with silky tannins and bright acidity. Black plum, violets, pepper and graphite.

Details: From a clay rich site planted in the 1980s. Whole cluster semi carbonic maceration with indigenous yeasts, minimal SO2. Aged 9 months in neutral barrels. Bottled unfined, unfiltered.

Story: La Guerrerie is an estate parcel named in reference to its history as a battlefield in the Hundred Years` War. It is a flat, clay-rich site co-planted with Côt, aka Malbec, and Gamay in the 1980`s. The Puzelats farm it organically and harvest it by hand. Typical of Tue-Boeuf reds, the fruit goes as whole clusters into huge oak vats for a spontaneous fermentation, which is a semi-carbonic maceration with a closed top for around 10 to 14 days. The clusters are pressed and the wine finishes with a non-carbonic, open top fermentation in vat. La Guerrerie is aged for 10-12 months in used demi-muids and Burgundy barrels; it is bottled without fining or filtration and with little to no sulfur. Up through 2018, it was classified as an AOC Touraine wine, but starting in 2019, it is a Vin de France.