This is a wine made by Xavier Courrant who used to work in Paris as a wine retailer.  In 2009 he purchased 6 ha of vines (five Cabernet Franc and one Chenin Blanc) in Bourgueil near Saint-Patrice and went to work making wine.

Lucky us to have one of these to share with friends and enjoy with mint-laced lamb burgers.  The Notre Histoire vineyard has a terroir of calcareous clay and lies to the north of the Loire River, east of Saumur and just north of Chinon.  When he purchased the land, Courrant started to wean it off the sprays that had been used and he’s now moving toward an organic label and a fully biodynamic profile.

This wine is a deep ruby with fresh pine needle, raspberry and red currant on the nose.  It’s exactly as I’d hoped it would be when I purchased it in all its natural yeast fermentation, unfined, unfiltered glory.

The palate is dry with medium plus acidity and ripe tannins with fresh, green vine, raspberry, crunchy pomegranate and cranberry, more currants, rosemary and savoury garrigue.

WSET Very Good plus, the Notre Histoire is gasp worthy – tight and pleasantly tart.  Pure Cabernet Franc, it fairly screams ‘Loire‘.