2020 François Cazin Cheverny Rosé
Region: France, Loire Valley
Farming: Conventional
Grape Varieties: Gamay, Pinot Noir
Dry light-bodied rosé | Serve chilled, with a salad
Alongside all the great wines which François makes, it’s shamefully easy to miss his complete, harmonious rosé, which folds Cheverny chalk minerality into layer upon layer of Gamay fruit and Pinot Noir finesse. Chilled, the wine is linear and insistent, but give it time in the sun, and it unfurls just so: vibrant, full of the light and warmth of a late summer Loire.
The Cazin family have worked their Le Petit Chambord estate for five generations. François himself has been making wine since 1976, long before other winemakers jumped on the bandwagon of the new AOC status for both Cheverny and Cour-Cheverny. The vines François currently farms vary dramatically in age, with some planted back in 1928 and the youngest in 2003. His philosophy is simple: "It's how things have been done in my family." This means almost no chemical intervention, hand-harvesting, natural yeasts, and a patient elevage before releasing the wines. Geologically, the region sees a mix of clay, chalk and silex, however François has a propensity towards the heavier clay soils, with more silex in Cheverny, and a fraction more chalk in Cour-Cheverny.
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