2022 Forteresse de Berrye, Saumur Rouge “Clos de Berrie” Loire Valley, France.
The 2022 Saumur Rouge Clos de Berrie by the Forteresse de Berrye estate is a delicious lighter framed Cabernet Franc with classic chalky terroir influence and pretty aromatics, a delicate earthiness and spice notes added to the core of blackberry, plum and dusty dry cherry fruits. Medium bodied and fresh in the glass with a deep garnet hue, this wine is an excellent value and a very natural and rewarding effort to enjoy over the next 3 to 5 years.The Forteresse de Berrye winery, a historical French castle from the twelfth century, began organic viticulture in 2021 and they expect full certification by 2024, this along with planting better clones within their hillside vines look to really raise the quality here. It’s noted that Saumur is one of the driest areas of the Loire Valley with lower humidity overall due to the rain shadow of the Armorican Massif to the west, which makes the organic farming easier here. Forteresse de Berrye took over an old property with neglected vineyards and deeply quarried tuffeau limestone caves and are at an early stage as a label, but the potential and promise is looking good, especially for those Loire enthusiasts that like old school Cabernet Franc and Chenins with a more rustic character. Forteresse de Berrye has some interplanted Cabernet Sauvignon too, which does go into their Saumur Rouge bottlings, but this feels purely Franc in style and the winemaking is simple with mainly tank raised wines to promote transparency. You can still find the 2020 Forteresse de Berrye Saumur Rouge, which is a little more elevated and concentrated, but this one is lovely too.
Forteresse de Berrye’s expressive and terroir-focused wines are crafted in a simple and direct way by its new owner, Gilles Colinet, who had to agree to rejuvenate the old historic castle on the property before his purchase could be finalized, and his efforts, especially the wines, are widely admired by his peers in the region and this is a label to follow. The Loire Valley, as I’ve said before, is still filled with undiscovered treasures and historically sites with unique vineyard areas still being found, like this newly resurrected estate in Saumur, which is just beginning to ship wines to the United States and of which I was able to taste recently at a low key mini portfolio tasting by The Source Imports, who bring in many cool under the radar producers from this ancient French wine growing area. The Forteresse de Berrye, near Berry (hence the name), in Saumur is set on a high elevation site with complex soils that includes silt, sandy and clay over classic yellowish tuffeau limestone, which is awesome for Chenin Blanc and Cab Franc, like in this wine. The terroir really comes through here, and as The Source suggests, the tuffeau, which was formed about 90 million years ago, is one of the wine world’s great terroir enhancers with its chalky sandstone being naturally high in calcium carbonate content which keeps the vines cool during the heat and adds intensity to the wine’s aromatics, to name a few benefits. I also, must mention, Forteresse de Berrye does an excellent Crémant de Loire sparkler made from Chenin Blanc exclusively that sees cement vat fermentation, and I highly recommend it
($21 Est.) 90 Points, grapelive