La Franchaie La Distraite
La Franchaie La Distraite – alternate view 2
1 - 2

La Franchaie La Distraite

La Franchaine
$32.00

Grape: Cabernet Franc
Vintage: 2023
Type: Red

This natural red wine is an artisanal fractional blend of cabernet franc built in the spirit of a traditional solera system. Winemaker Eric Dubois combines components harvested across the 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 vintages from organic plots in Anjou. The vinification process relies entirely on spontaneous native yeast fermentations and zero chemical inputs inside neutral vessels. Bypassing modern physical manipulation or wood barrels, the final assembly is bottled without filtration and with zero added sulfur.

It pours a translucent ruby color, releasing high-toned aromas of fresh raspberry, red currant, and wild mountain herbs. A light-to-medium-bodied frame pairs a crunchy fruit core with a chiseled, gravelly tannin structure. Savory notes of damp earth and white pepper add a serious structural depth across the fluid mouthfeel. A clean wave of natural acidity cuts through the volume, keeping the texture refreshed. It finishes bone-dry, leaving a light trace of graphite.

Winery

La Franchaie is the Anjou project of Eric Dubois and his partner Alex, whose first harvest took place in 2018. Eric had previously spent twenty-one years at the historic Clos Cristal in Saumur and later worked at La Coulée de Serrant. When searching for vineyards of their own, the couple wanted land with space for horses and a surrounding landscape broader than vines alone. The parcels they acquired sit beside pasture, oak trees and cereal fields, with shallow alluvial sands and silts over schist.

That agricultural diversity is part of how Eric understands the vineyard’s health. In the cellar, tanks, barrels, amphorae and glass dame-jeannes offer different ways to raise the wines. Grapes are destemmed by hand, and the work avoids pumpovers, punchdowns and stirring. The approach is methodical and unhurried, using observation and gentle movement rather than forceful extraction. Wines such as Séraphin, Volatiles and La Distraite give different views of the Anjou landscape, connected by an experienced grower’s curiosity about the whole path from soil and plant to the finished bottle.