Domaine de la Cotelleraie

There are no real shortcuts to discovering the secrets behind Gerald Vallee's Domaine de le Cotelleraie. There's no website to go to or extensive literature available. Gerald is a vigneron rather than a marketer (a job title we are not sure he would even recognise) and prefers to let his wines do the talking.

Gerald is renowned amongst his peers for his work ethic. You can count on one hand the number of growers in the region that do everything in the vineyards manually but Gerald is one of them. Pesticides are an anathema to him as he believes in the necessity of vibrant soil life to produce great wines and leaves harmless weeds between the vines during summer. Come harvest time, he doesn't pick on a set date or even parcel by parcel. Instead he makes several tries through his vines, picking each bunch at optimum ripeness and leaving those not quite there to be picked another day. This may be common practice for making sweet wines in the Loire, but is almost unheard of for reds.

The results are among the best in St Nicolas de Bourgeuil which has been synonymous with Cabernet Franc ever since Cardinal Richelieu ordered the local Abbot to plant the grape in the 17th Century to ensure a steady supply for the best tables in Paris. Vallee's ambition is to see the region takes its place on those tables again, refusing to accept the current pecking order that place Loire Reds well behind the likes of Bordeaux and Burgundy. His richly oaked Vau Jaumier cuvee is testament to that goal: full-bodied, ripe and powerful it is a far cry from the green, herbaceous wines that lesser growers around him make.

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