Violette AOC 2020

The Violette AOC 2020 lives up to its name: deep purple with violet highlights, violet and pansy over dark berry fruit. A wine of remarkable depth, its fruit intensity free of any overripeness.

Clau de Nell lies in Ambillou-Château in Anjou, 90 metres above sea level and 120 kilometres from the Atlantic. Sandstone gravel and red flint over tuffeau define the ten hectares of old vines, while cool nights and warm days preserve the freshness of the harvested grapes. Anne-Claude Leflaive discovered the estate in 2006, after three years without wine production, and acquired it in 2008 together with Christian Jacques. Since her death in 2015, Jacques and cellar master Sylvain Potin have carried the work forward.

The blend unites the estate's two Cabernet varieties: Cabernet Franc, the heart of the domaine at five hectares, and Cabernet Sauvignon on one hectare. The average vine age is 60 years, with individual plots over a century old, and yields stay below 30 hectolitres per hectare. Sylvain Potin, a sommelier before joining the cellar, works towards precision, elegance and balance rather than power.

The fruit continues what the nose promises: mulberry, blackberry and plum, alongside dried fig and cranberry, spiced with clove, juniper and cinnamon. A fine reductive note keeps everything fresh and clear. The wine stays in motion, its flavour impressions constantly reshaping in the glass, with the finish carrying plenty of white pepper.

Oven-roasted stuffed quail with creamy chard and beetroot, beetroot gazpacho with Arbequina olive oil, or braised goose leg with warm red cabbage and apple salad and dumplings.

Clau de Nell converted to biodynamic farming as early as 2000, long before the change of ownership; the label carries the Demeter logo. The estate's name derives from its former owners, Claude and Nelly Pichard.