Benoit Courault La Coulée 2024

Benoit Courault farms six hectares around Faye d'Anjou in the Loire, working biodynamically and making natural wines without additives, an approach he learned alongside the natural-wine grower Eric Pfifferling. La Coulée is a varietal Grolleau, a light-skinned Loire grape long used for everyday reds and rosé and now taken seriously by a generation of low-intervention growers. The vineyards sit on the schist and sandy soils of the Anjou Noir, whose dark, friable rock warms quickly and drains well, suiting an early-ripening variety that keeps naturally high acidity and a moderate 12.5 percent alcohol. Fermentation runs on native yeasts with no added sulphur to speak of, and the wine spends 18 months in French oak barrels, which here serves to settle and soften the wine rather than add wood flavour. The colour is bright, translucent ruby. The nose shows red berries, cherry and rhubarb, with red currant, white pepper and a stony, earthy note. The palate is light bodied and fresh, with fine tannins, crisp acidity and a clean, savoury finish. Serve lightly chilled at 13 to 14 degrees. It pairs with charcuterie, poultry and lighter dishes.