Description
Thierry Germain made the move away from the Gironde to the Loire Valley in 1991, taking possession of Domaine des Roches Neuves in Varrains, just on the outskirts of Saumur. The vineyard is worked in a natural way -3 horses help- with the goal of keeping the vine and the soil at its healthiest, and is fully biodynamic since the 2005 vintage. The harvest is manual, selecting grapes at their very ripest level. Vinification is handled in small batches then bottling unfined and unfiltered. Germain has garnered praise in the European press for his exciting wines, which are always filled with ripe, generous fruit and supple textures.
Tasting Notes
Cultivated on sandy soil, the Franc de Pied cuvée of the Domaine des Roches Neuves offers a soft and supple red wine, with aromas of small red fruits and elegant floral notes. The wine is crisp, delicate, balanced, and fruit-forward. It should be opened more than an hour before tasting to fully reveal its qualities. Raspberry and blackcurrant dominate, accompanied by fine minerality and light acidity that makes the mouth salivate. The finish is long. The term Franc de Pied designates a vineyard that escaped phylloxera at the beginning of the 20th century; it is a vine rooted on native French stock, unlike most vines at the time, which were imported from the United States to resist the disease.
