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A French Castle and Award-Winning Wines

A chateau that inspired Sleeping Beauty, a feminine tradition handed down through centuries, and a gold-medal-winning wine.

Located in Bourgueil AOP in the Loire Valley, Château de Minière holds 29 ha of Cabernet Franc vines and 1 ha of Chenin Blanc planted in 2019. The estate has been producing organic wines since 2010 (certified in 2013). In the cellar, gentle winemaking with limited extraction produces fresh, balanced wines, focusing on the expression of the grape variety and terroir. Their red Cuvee Vignes Centenaires de Minière is a wine for laying down produced from 100-year-old vines on tuffeau stone, harvested by hand, and aged for 12 months in 400 and 500-liter barrels.

The quintessence of the estate, this wine is made only in the greatest vintages. This intense, expressive, and delicate wine combines power with elegance. It stands out by its great aromatic complexity and the quality of its finish.

Vines have been cultivated in the Val de Loire since Roman times. This activity developed considerably at the end of the 1st millennium under the auspices of the Abbey of Bourgueil, founded by Emma de Blois in 990. Cabernet Franc is believed to have been established in the Libournais region in the South West of France sometime in the 17th century when Cardinal Richelieu transported cuttings of the vine to the Loire Valley. 

They were planted at the Abbey of Bourgueil under the care of an abbot named Breton. His name became associated with the grape. The tradition and culture of nurturing and care are reflected in their wines.

Vignes Centenaires de Minière 2015

Vignes Centenaires de Minière 2015 won 90 points, a gold medal at the 2020 Sommeliers Choice Awards. Sommeliers Choice Awards unveils the best wines that consumers can drink at restaurants, bars, and hotels.

The wines are judged in five categories: food pairability, typicity, quality, value, and packaging. The judges ask: would I stock this wine, and is it good enough for customers to order a second glass? Wines are graded out of 100, with only those above 95 points winning the coveted Double Gold award. There are also category awards, with best in the show given to white, red, sparkling, rose, and an overall winner every year, by the bottle and by the glass – reflecting how wine is presented in restaurants.

The Vineyard

The vines of Minière are ideally spread out over the entire « terroir » covered by the appellation, from the gravel shores along the Loire River to the clay, limestone, and silica (mineral) soils of the hills overlooking the valley. You will find young vines estimated to range from around 10 years to older vines well over 100 years.

This broad range of vine ages and of soils allows the production of delicate fruity wines to be enjoyed young, as well as more full-bodied wines with great aging potential with tannins that become silky over time

The “Vignes Centenaires de Minière” is a unique wine, produced from their oldest vines.

The Château de Minière has an organic certification (Ecocert). The organic process implies close monitoring supervision to prevent diseases and the use of natural products. Grass, herbs, and weeds are tolerated but controlled. Since 2011 all grapes for the wines of Minière have been harvested manually.

The estate has 4500-5000 plants per hectare, with a qualitative yield of around 45 hl per hectare.

The wine-making process remains traditional in a modern wine-making facility offering temperature-controlled fermentation.

The rosé and various red still wines belong to the Bourgueil appellation. They are all made with 100% Cabernet Franc grape.

They also produce red and rosé sparkling wines “Bulles de Minière” according to the ancestral method (naturally sparkling), without added sugar nor yeast. These are their signature wines.

For a few years, they also made still and sparkling grape juice from the Cabernet Franc grape.

The Vineyard

The winery prides itself on developing high-quality wines. They test themselves by creating new wines and promoting innovation in several aspects.

These are some steps they take to ensure the highest quality in their wines:

  • The conversion towards organic agriculture and viticulture has been finalized
  • Complete manual harvest for the Minière wines
  • State-of-the-art sorting table to ensure no green element enters the vats
  • Acquisition of a large number of oak barrels for maturing the wines from their old vines
  • Replacement of the big vats with smaller ones, including several with floating lids in order to create finer wines in smaller batches
  • Experimenting with new styles of wines, in particular “sparkling/pétillant natural” wines, becoming one of the first wineries to offer a 100% Cabernet Franc dry red sparkling wine.

 

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