Bourgueil Perrières

A full-south lieu-dit close to the Butte de Bourgueil, where a layer of clay covers Turonian tuffeau limestone (the sheets disagree on how thick it is). Sources put the parcel at 0.8-1 ha of old Cabernet Franc - vine-age claims range from 30 to 60 years depending on the sheet, with the 2021-specific one saying 60. The estate, bought by Jacky Blot in 2002 and now run by Jean-Philippe Blot, farms organically; Perrières is a cuvée off the main slope of the Butte itself.

2021: destemmed, native yeasts and nothing added, about five weeks in wooden vats with daily pigeage through the first ten days, malolactic in vat. Elevage in barriques - the 2021-specific sheet says 16 months in equal thirds of new, one-wine and two-wine barrels, while the importer's general sheet says 20% new - then bottled unfined and unfiltered. Yields 25 hl/ha.

2021 in the Loire was the frost year: a brutal April, cool mildew-heavy summer, historically small national crop - though Bourgueil got off comparatively lightly - and a late-September harvest in the fresh, moderate-alcohol register of the older Loire classics. 13% on the label (one retailer sheet says 12.5; the label wins).