2023 TOURAINE ROSÉ, Domaine des Echardières Luc Poullain. Loire

Luc Poullain – owner and winemaker – bought Domaine des Echardières in Touraine in 2000 (at the age of 30) from the local Launay family. He has 16 hectares of vines with a mix of 6 different Loire Valley varieties. Luc has an interesting CV – he studied as an agricultural engineer in Bedfordshire in the early 1990s (which rather explains his excellent English), before returning to France to sell, ironically, chemicals to the wine industry.

Luc’s is also a great hunter – as well as actively being involved in the preservation of the local Woodcock, known colloquially as La Long Bec – and this bird features on his labels.

Although the cellar is situated in the village of Angé, the vines are located on what is referred to as the Premier Côte between Angé and the neighbouring commune of Pouillé – where Luc and his family live.

This Rosé is made from a blend of no fewer than 5 varieties roughly in equal measure: Cabernet Franc, Malbec (called Côt locally), Grolleau, Gamay, and the rare (spicy) grape Pineau d’Aunis. The rosé colour comes directly from an initial pressing giving a very light, almost hauntingly pale, pink hue. The wine is cool fermented in stainless steel and is bone dry with no residual sugar and modest alcohol levels. There is a short time – 3 months – on lees.

Serve chilled, this has bright soft red fruits and red berry character. Light to medium in body, with low alcohol, bone dry, and crisp in nature, this is an ideal summer drinking rosé. Ready for drinking now and over the next year to 18 months whilst at its fresh and vibrant best.