2020 Domaine de la Chanteleuserie Cuvee Alouettes Bourgueil Loire 750 ml

“For its quality it is absurdly undervalued,” said Jancis Robinson and Hugh Johnson about Chinon, Bourgueil, and Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, which they call the “red wine gems of Touraine.” Cuvée Alouettes is one of Bourgueil’s defining bottles, and you simply won’t find a better or more versatile food wine. 

Ruby-red, overflowing with aromas of berries, graphite, rosewater, and grilled herbs, it’s supremely vibrant and mouthwatering on the palate. It was the perfect pour for everything from Hen of the Woods mushrooms and shishito peppers to speck-wrapped black bass with beurre fondu and grapes, and it’s also the ideal wine to have on hand at home. 

Domaine de la Chanteleuserie has been a jewel in legendary importer Kermit Lynch’s crown since he discoverd the winery back in 1976. Run then by Moîse Boucard, the estate is now shepherded by the family’s seventh generation, Moîse’s son Thierry and his wife Christine. 

Like better-known Chinon on the south side of the Loire River, Bourgueil is all about Cabernet Franc, known locally as “Breton.” While up to 10% of Cabernet Sauvignon is allowed in the appellation’s wines, the Bourcards keep it pure and use 100% Cab Franc grown on their south-facing limestone-clay vineyards, which sit on a subsoil of porous tuffeau.  

A warm vintage like 2020 does wonders for Bourgueil: It ups the body of the wine, giving it what Robinson and Johnson called “the substance and structure to mature for a decade or two,” and Cuvée Alouettes is one of the rare bargain-priced red wines worth laying down for a few years or more.