Anne Cécile Jaduad "Cotillon Rouge"

Grapes: Cot (Malbec)

Region: Loire, France

Vintage: 2020

Viticulture: Organic

Soils: Clay + Loam + Sandy

Vinification: Destemmed pressed 10 day maceration fiberglass vats

Aging: 10 months in used barriques

Fining or Filtering: None

Sulfur: Minimal added

Notes from the Importer: Domaine Perrault-Jadaud, a partnership between oenologist Anne-Cécile Jadaud and viticulturist Tanguy Perrault, began in 2008, after the couple met while teaching at the lycée viticole at Amboise. Anne-Cécile, a native of nearby Tours, spent ten years as a consulting enologist in the south of France before returning to the Loire to teach and farm vineyards with her partner. Tanguy, a former student of philosophy and a native of Breton, cider country, also spent ten years working in viticulture before beginning his work with Anne-Cécile. Tanguy had been going back and forth between Breton and the Loire when he met the former winemaker, Jean Penillaut, of Clos Baudoin of the famed Poniatowski Vouvray estate. Tanguy bought an old press from Jean with the intention of making cider back in Brittany. Jean insisted that Tanguy had to make wine with the press and sold him a half acre of vines in Vouvray, near the Clos du Bourg.

Growing from this tiny vineyard, the couple now work approximately eight hectares of organically-farmed vines spread across 15 small parcels near their home and winery in Chançay, in the northeastern portion of Vouvray. They have Chenin vines in Vouvray, Vernou-sur-Brenne, La Rochère and Noizay, which includes the Jules Geoffroy parcel, situated near the famed Clos du Bourg, and Bidaudières, below the château of the same name, both desirable parcels.

in addition to this, they work about three hectares of organic vineyards in Nazelles-Négron, near Amboise. It is here that Anne-Cécile is able to indulge her love of red wines, as the vineyards are planted to a mixture of Côt, Cabernet Franc, Gamay, Grolleau, and Pineau d’ Aunis. Harvests are always manual by successive pickings if the vintage so requires. Fermentations are allowed to happen naturally with native yeast in barrel, and progress over a long period of time in a cold cellar. Anne-Cécile and Tanguy prefer to use as little SO2 as possible and have progressively dialed back its use over the years. The selections below include both still and sparkling versions of Vouvray Sec bottled as Perrault-Jadaud, as well as a dry red wine and a slightly off-dry Rosé made from a blend of Gamay, Côt, and Cabernet Franc, both bottled under Anne-Cécile Jadaud’s name.

Notes: The wine starts with a touch of reduction on the nose which then leads to aromas of cherry, rhubarb and plum. The wine is medium-bodied with hints of sour cherry and savory spice notes.

Les Joueurs de Nez means “the nose players” and it’s a reference to the complex and playful aromatic interplay of the wine. They are also fabulous characters represented in books from the Middle Ages. Three characters - three grape varieties. Also an allusion to the winegrower's "nose."