François Saint-Lô: Tasting & Drinking
Clearly François Saint-Lô got off to a good start with his 2012 Le Ch’nin de Vie, a wine of expressive fruit and pithy depth. Sadly I haven’t had the opportunity to revisit his whites since then.
The reds, however, I have become reacquainted with. The style here leans towards the more natural and delicate, and whether you enjoy them or not will depend very much on your feelings about lighter reds. They tend to be delicate in structure, rather crystalline, with crisp fruit, bright acidity and low alcohol levels, often between 9% and 11%.
On my most recent encounter I found a quartet of reds from François to be of quite variable quality, with a couple exhibiting faint elements of reduction, a third showing some hints of oxidation, and a fourth which pulled up very short. Nevertheless, despite my findings, François Saint-Lô and his wines clearly have a very strong following, especially among acolytes of natural, low-intervention and hipster styles, and I wish him well with his future winemaking endeavours. (13/3/14, updated 30/3/22)
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