2017 Pierre et Rodolphe Gauthier
‘Jour de Soif’ Bourgueil
Loire Valley, FR
Regular Price $19.99
Sale Price $15.99
Here’s the thing…there’s an ocean of wine out there. And of that ocean of wine, only a few stand out, not because of some critics’ opinion (face it, the public doesn’t read the wine press, it’s all inside baseball) but because the wine is just simply so versatile, delightful AND affordable that those in the know scoop it up before the rest of the world ever knows that it exists. This is one of those wines.
The Gauthiers (father and son) are the fifth generation proprietors of Domaine du Bel Air, from which they produce outstanding, long-lived Cabernet Franc. Exacting in their standards and practices, they don’t make much wine and it is so well regarded that scant few bottles ever appear on retail shelves. The big players in the retail market really can’t be bothered to stock these wines since there is so little available (and frankly, they’ve never heard of them, as the Gauthiers’ neither advertise nor send out free bottles to the critics for review).
Anyway, we have exactly one case of the ‘Jour de Soif’, which is the Gauthiers’ young vine, everyday cuvee. Fresh, bright, totally unmanipulated, this wine is perfect for a summer evening with anything that you might care to serve. Juicy but not heavy, with black fruit intermingled with hints of black olive, the wine disappears from your glass as quickly as it will from our shelves.