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2002 Couly Dutheil "Clos de l'Echo" Chinon Product Zoom

2002 Couly Dutheil "Clos de l'Echo" Chinon

SKU #1015842

The Domaine's masterpiece, the Clos de l'Echo, lies within this calcareous clay soil and is the stuff of legend. This walled vineyard and it's castle earned it's nomenclature from the echo sent back by the castle walls. Once owned by the great French satirist Francois Rabelais and his family, the vineyard was purchased in 1952 by the Couly-Dutheil family and re-planted the following year. The Clos de l'Echo is a wine of grand proportion, complex, structured, and very ageworthy. This 2002 is a legendary wine in the making, with great concentration and perfect balance. Clive Coates in the Vine: "Fine colour. Complex, chocolate-mocha nose. Liquorice and even leather. Full bodied. Quite tannic but very good ripe tannins. Very good concentrated fruit. Excellent grip. This is going to be very fine. 2012-2040"

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Price: $21.99

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By: Chiara Shannon |  K&L Staff Member  |  Review Date: 2/24/2012  | Send Email
Arguably one of the highest expressions of Cabernet Franc in the world, the Couly Dutheil’s “Clos de l’Echo” Chinon is produced from a walled vineyard on mineral-rich, calcareous, clay soils. The 2002 has almost a decade of bottle age and is still so young and tight at this stage...it suggests a rosebud clenched inside an iron fist that is only just beginning to loosen its grip. With air, red fruits come forward along with tantalizing scents of anise and warm earth, though the tannins remain firm and minerality taut. This could easily be left alone for another ten years, but nevertheless it is a captivating wine that has the potential to turn everything you think you know about Cabernet Franc on its head. On the third day being open it started to really sing, but by then there wasn't much left to enjoy! Available in magnum too, but be prepared to wait another twenty years at least for that...

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Additional Information:

Varietal:

Cabernet Franc

- While Cabernet Franc, a parent with Sauvignon Blanc to the ubiquitous Cabernet Sauvignon, frequently plays second fiddle in Bordeaux blends (though it does get more props on the Right Bank, where it dominates Cheval Blanc), this lighter, higher acid/lower tannin, early-maturing, perfumed red varietal is far from a wallflower. It is the headliner in the Loire Valley appellations of Saumur-Champigny, Bourgueil, St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, Chinon and Anjou-Villages, where it makes exceptional, food-friendly wines. Outside of France, Cabernet Franc can be found in northern Italy, particularly in Friuli and in California where it is frequently used as a blending grape in Bordeaux-style wines. Heartier in the cold than Cabernet Sauvignon, Cab Franc is gaining a foothold in northern and eastern wine regions like Canada, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Country:

France

- When it comes to wine, France stands alone. No other country can beat it in terms of quality and diversity. And while many of its Region, Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne most obviously, produce wine as rare, as sought-after and nearly as expensive as gold, there are just as many obscurities and values to be had from little known appellations throughout the country. To learn everything there is to know about French wine would take a lifetime. To understand and appreciate French wine, one only has to begin tasting them. Click for a list of bestselling items from all of France.
Sub-Region:

Loire

- Of all of the French wine producing regions, the Loire might produces the greatest variety of wines. They range from still to sparkling, very dry and acidic to hearty sweet, and clear in color to a deep purple. The diversity of wine produced in this region is due in part to its dynamic climate, which ranges from Continental to Mediterranean. This region is best known for Sauvignon blanc, Chenin blanc and Cabernet Franc. The most famous areas in the Loire Valley may be Sancerre and Vouvray.