Domaine Filliatreau

Domaine Filliatreau Wine Tasting
www.filliatreau.fr

Our second visit to the tastings rooms of this highly regarded domaine just a few minutes outside Samur. Regardless of the wines, the trip is worth it just to see the troglodyte dwelling above the Loire that forms their tasting rooms and cellars. The quality here at the top end remains high. The availability of mature vintages is noteworthy, and overall value is excellent. This was an excellent tasting, jumping around a number of vintages and concentrating on the reds.


Domaine Filliatreau - Samur blanc 2008
15/20 Drink now

Pale, dry, crisp, fruit dominant. Has some of the typical mineral austerity underlying this. Needs to be cold on a hot summers day. Modern in style. Short term keeping.


Domaine Filliatreau - Cabernet de Saumur 2008
14-15/20 Drink now.

Not as much red fruit as one might expect. Very drying on the palate. Refreshing, and clearly meant to accompany food – this is no TV wine. To be served lightly chilled, a good picnic wine. Short term keeping.


Domaine Filliatreau – Château Fouquet “Bio” 2007 (Saumur)
15/20. Short term keeping.

Blackcurrent character, very classic. Some grip and density to this but easy drinking nonetheless. A summer evening red, to drink lightly chilled and young. Light, fruit dominated finish.


Domaine Filliatreau – Cuvée Lena 2006 (Samur-Champigny)
15+/20 Medium term keeping

From magnum. 20-30 year old vines, mainly bought in fruit since 1986. Not particularly dissimilar from the previous wine tasted, maybe just a little more gamey in character belying its age and better vintage.


Domaine Filliatreau – La Grand Vignolle 2007 (Samur-Champigny)
15+/20. Medium term keeping.

Vineyard from the top of the hill – the roof of the caves and tasting room! This wine was targeted at the American market originally, but did so well it has been released in Europe too … with one big difference. Counter-intuitively, the American bottling is not filtered, where as the European bottling is! Meaty, animal character. Altogether a more serious wine, palpable tannin with supple fruit and a more rigid structure. Will keep.


Domaine Filliatreau – La Grand Vignolle 1995 (Samur-Champigny)
16+/20. Plateau, will keep medium term.

Perhaps a useful reminder at this point how well these wines can age and develop in the right years. This is fully mature now, and lovely. Rather rustic Bordeaux-like, all cedar on the nose. Tannins are still ample and edgy but with sufficient developed red fruit body and plentiful acidity to balance this out. Long finish.


Domaine Filliatreau – Vielles Vignes 2007 (Samur-Champigny)
15-16/20. For dinking in the medium term.

Not a great year for their flagship estate wine. It still maintains the classic Cabernet Franc character with ample structure but lacks the concentration of greater year. For drinking younger than previous vintages.


Domaine Filliatreau – Vielles Vignes 1996 (Samur-Champigny)
16+/20. Will keep ~5+ years.

Gamey, meaty, smokey. Tertiary characters seem to take about 10 years to develop in these Cabernet Franc wines, and this has certainly reached that stage now. Good levels of acidity and firm tannin indicates this still has some years ahead of it, though I think this is approaching its peak. A complex fine wine. Partner with some mature hard cheese.


Domaine Filliatreau – Vielles Vignes “Affutée” 2005 (Samur-Champigny)
16++/20 now, with significant future potential. A 20-year wine.

The outstanding 2005 vintage of this wine has only just been released in the past few weeks. Eighteen months ageing in oak barrels, 4 months new, 4 months 1 year old and 4 months in 2 year old. Oak unsurprisingly dominates the nose currently and is not yet fully integrated into the wine, with a bitter cherry character. However, there are layers of sweet red fruit behind this giving considerable weight and depth. Very ripe tannins, but in balance with the wine. This is clearly a wine with huge future potential, and given it is already 4 years old without a hint of age I would imagine it will see its 20th birthday in with ease. To put away and forget about.


Domaine Filliatreau – Château Fouquet “12 Fûts” 1995 (Saumur)
17/20. Keep a further 5-10 years.

In my opinion, “12 Fûts” is the best Filliatreau wine, and this is a wonderful bottle from an excellent year. It originally spent 18 months in barrel. Very open, intense, classic mature characters of cedar and tobacco. Tannin beautifully balanced, substantial opulent mature red fruit core. A wine of significant complexity and weight, with large tears still running down the inside of the glass. Years of enjoyable drinking ahead of it. Best accompanied by a fine cigar. Bargain price (€15.50).


Domaine Filliatreau – Lena 1989 (Côteaux de Samur)
16-17/20. No hurry to drink.

What a wonderful surprise to finish the tasting – a fine example of a mature sweet Chenin Blanc. Pale gold colour, pure crystalline aromas of peach and marzipan. Sweet palate but with high acidity, I suspect this may well have been even sweeter than it tasted in residual sugar terms. Not overly cloying or luscious, but a great palate cleaner at the end of such a tasting. Long, complex finish. Harvested on the last day before Christmas, simply because the workers were all due to leave on holiday! Wines like this from Chenin Blanc and sufficient acidity (as in this case) tend to be relatively immortal. Again, a relative bargain at €18.80/75cl bottle.