Château Franc Mayne: Tasting & Drinking
The Côte de Franc is perhaps an overlooked section of the limestone côtes, one reason being that the slope sits on the north side of the finger of plateau that reaches out westwards at La Gomerie. Thus although the terroir is ideal, the north-facing slopes are perhaps not as benevolent as the south-facing slopes just a few hundred metres away on the other side of the plateau, where we find numerous famous names including Château Beauséjour, Château Beau-Séjour Bécot, Château Bellevue, Château Angélus and Mazerat, among others.
In addition I feel the approach to winemaking here has a significant influence on the style of wine. Under the direction of Griet van Malderen-Laviale the fruit was often dark and overlaid with a diffuse definition suggesting sur-maturité at times, with a chocolate-laced richness, big and bold tannins, and an imposing texture. The oak was also very imposing. It was very much St Emilion in the modern style, as I hinted in my introduction to this profile; these were wines set to wrestle you down to the ground if you don’t succumb at the first sip.
Having said that, I sense more appeal in the wines with the change in ownership, the Savare wines showing more integration, with good results in 2020 and 2022 in particular.
Looking back to earlier vintages I found the wine made in 2010 to be appealing, with all the dark and sooty tannin I would expect to find in a wine from this ear, but with a confident seam of fruit and a little chewy substance which fortunately didn’t detract. Other vintages which showed similar mettle included 2015, 2016 and 2018. (12/5/16, updated 10/8/24)
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