Yannick Amirault Bourgueil Pavillon du Grand Clos 2022

Certified Organic (Ecocert)

Variety:Cabernet FrancCountry, Region:France, Loire ValleyAppellation: Bourgeuil

Made from a tiny 0.21ha walledclos right in front ofNicole & Yannick Amirault’s house, located on the prime mid-to-high part of the slope above Bourgueil where the soil has 2 metres of clay over limestone. Planted in 1997 this wine has only been released in 2003, 2005, 2010, 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2022 with other vintages becoming part of the Grand Clos blend. This is the ultimate “insiders wine” as it is never listed for sale and only sold to those who know and appreciate. Quantities are tiny with only 2 barrels made in the years that is produced.

review for 2018 vintage

‘I was a little surprised to see this tip-top micro-cuvereleased in the 2017 vintage, less so in 2018. This has a nose of richly roasted fruit, full of lightly dried blackcurrants, dried dark cherry and currant, the fruit concentration here sinewy, dark and savoury. This is followed by a very rich and seamless style on the palate, the tannins here as rich and tightly knit as the other wines in this vintage, but showing perhaps a little less prominently, the substance wrapped around them silky and correct, carrying lightly perfumed dried fruits. It is only at the end that the huge tannic presence comes out from its hiding place. A bold, and broad style, but it works. It will of course need a decade or more to show its best.’ 96 points, Chris Kissack, thewinedoctor.com, February 2020.

review for 2010 vintage

‘A black-tulip core with a claretty rim. The nose is determinedly concentrated, rich in fruit character, led by scents of blackberry, but delivered in a challenging, spicy and sooty style, with notes of black pepper and sweet black liquorice essence. Not to mention the Cabernet character coming through in a quite notable fashion, the fruit expressing itself through the scents of bay leaf and green peppercorn. The palate possesses a creamed-fruit texture, a velvety weight, and it is loaded with ripe and plush tannins. It boasts a massive texture but also a sense of openness and balance, with a little touch of high-toned lift to the fruit. A fabulously ripe wine, but it is bright too, and there is some aromatic complexity here, the middle and end perfumed with violets and rose petals. A serious, hugely structured wine which is brimming with tannic potential. I am glad to have a few more of these tucked away in the cellar.’ 96 points, Chris Kissack, thewinedoctor.com, May 2017.

Yannick and Benot make a simply marvellous array of wines, vibrant and perfumed yet dark and confident at the lower levels, the wines from the more sandy soils, while those from the limestone terroirs sitting up above the alluvial terrace are capable of much greater things, given ten or fifteen years in the cellar. These aren’t just wines to challenge those made in Chinon. Nor are these wines about which we should enthuse solely in the context of Bourgueil and St Nicolas de Bourgueil. This domaine, I believe, turns out some of the very best red wines in the entire Loire Valley. Overlook them to your disadvantage. Chris Kissack, The Wine Doctor, January 2018.

Bourgueil is located west of Tours in the western part of the Loire Valley. Bourgueil is situated on the northern side of the Loire, across the river from Chinon, and represents one of the northern-most appellations for growing red grape varieties in France. There are a variety of soil types here with the biggest and most cellar-worthy wines generally coming from the best vineyards on the slopes located further away from the Loire to the north and north-east of the town of Bourgueil. The vineyards on the flat gravelly river soils closer to the Loire yield wines which are usually aromatic, elegant and earlier to mature.

Amirault has about 13 hectares of vineyard holdings in Bourgueil, mostly located on, or just at, the base of these slopes to the north and northeast of the village of Bourgueil. Yannicks son Benoit now runs the estate and like his father he has chosen to work organically in the vineyards and is certified organic (Ecocert). All vinifications are made with indigenous yeasts with minimal SO2 and ageing takes place in a mixture of large tronconic oak vats, larger demi-muid barrels and increasingly in clay amphora. Extraction is long (up to 6 weeks) yet very gentle. All wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered.