Saumur-Champigny Les Memoires 2022,9367 (Domaine des Roches Neuves)

Cellar for 10 years or more. Decant for 30 minutes to an hour before serving. Les Mémoires is a medium-bodied red wine, made from Cabernet Franc in the Saumur-Champigny region of the Loire Valley. It is alive with scents of ripe red fruits, strawberry liqueur and subtle hints of eucalyptus. The grapes were sourced from an 80-acre vineyard in Dampierre-sur-Loire, where old vines grow in a field of flinty, limestone-rich soils. Domaine des Roches Neuves is an old cellar, dating back to 1850. In 1992, the Bordeaux native Thierry Germain, who is often regarded as one of the finest winemakers of his generation, took the reins. Les Mémoires is one of the winery’s newer plots, acquired in 2012 and still worked in the traditional style - with a horse and plow. Les Mémoires is a beautiful ruby red in the glass. It opens with a smattering of red fruits, strawberries and raspberries, underpinned aby subtle minerality and vegetal hints of pepper. It shows an excellent structure in the mouth - indicative of a great terroir and an expert winemaker. For red wine from the Loire Valley, this is about as good as it gets. Les Mémoires is perfect for pairing with game or red meat dishes, such as steak au poivre.