Les Côteaux du Levant

Les Côteaux du Levant is one of Domaine de la Butte's parcellaire cuvées, drawn from a south-exposed hillside of young-vine Cabernet Franc on limestone capped with flint, farmed since 2018 and previously folded into Le Haut de la Butte. Vinification runs through wood and concrete with about a month on skins, then élevage split between 60-hectolitre foudres and two- to three-year-old barrels. 2021 was a cool, frost-bitten Loire vintage that yielded small crops at modest ripeness, with bright acids, fresh red fruit, and a leafier, more classically proportioned Cabernet Franc profile than the warmer years on either side.