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Francois Blanchard

La Presse 2019

Price: $49.95
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Tasting notes

This is a whole-bunch Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon blend from fifty-year-old vines on clay and silex — the kind of site that gives you density without weight. A month of whole-bunch maceration adds a spicy, lifted quality to the dark fruit, and the year in cuve keeps it mineral and focused rather than soft or plush.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
Black CherriesBlack PepperEarthVanilla
  • Style: Dry, medium-bodied red; Cab Franc and Cab Sauv; whole-bunch fermented; clay and silex old vines; no added sulfites
  • Grapes & Terroir: 50% Cabernet Franc, 50% Cabernet Sauvignon; organic; La Grand-Cléré, Lémeré, Touraine; clay and silex soils; ~50-year-old vines
  • Winemaking: Whole-bunch co-fermentation, approximately one month; one year aging in cuve; unfined, unfiltered, no added sulfites; Vin de France
  • Serving: Serve at 60-64°F; 30-45 min decant recommended; can age further
  • Pairing: Braised lamb, duck confit, roasted pork, aged Loire goat cheese, mushroom dishes
  • Similar To: For fans of structured Loire Cabernet Franc who want old-vine density and a natural winemaking approach

La Presse is an equal-parts blend of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from La Grand-Cléré, a remote, wooded parcel a short drive from François Blanchard's Château du Perron in Lémeré, Touraine. The vines are roughly fifty years old and grow over firm clay soils studded with large fragments of silex. The wine is bottled as Vin de France.

For the 2019, the grapes were fermented together as whole bunches for approximately one month before spending a year at rest in cuve. No sulfites were added at any stage, and the wine is unfined and unfiltered. The extended whole-bunch maceration gives the wine firm but integrated tannins and a lifted aromatic profile of dark fruit, earth, and pepper.

La Grand-Cléré has been farmed organically for over two decades. Blanchard intercepts fruit trees throughout the rows and encourages maximum biodiversity, resulting in very low yields and concentrated fruit. The property totals around twenty hectares, but only four are planted to vines, with three of those in La Grand-Cléré.

Works well alongside braised lamb shoulder, duck confit, or a plate of aged Loire goat cheese. The firm tannins and vibrant acidity also hold up to dishes with some fat — roasted pork with herbs or a mushroom-heavy grain dish.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Red Wine
Wine Style:, Medium Body
Grapes:, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2019
Alcohol:, N/A
Country:, France
Region:, Loire Valley
Appellation:, Vin de France
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

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If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Francois Blanchard

François Blanchard is the fifth generation of his family to tend the vineyards of Château du Perron in Lémeré, a village roughly forty minutes south of Tours. He spent years as a professional jazz musician working in Tours before returning to the family farm. His first real vintage was in 2003, though he grew up surrounded by the land.

Blanchard farms four hectares of vines across two small parcels, with three hectares in La Grand-Cléré — a parcel hidden among woods, planted to fifty-year-old vines on clay and silex soils. The remaining twenty hectares of the property are kept wild or planted with vegetables and fruit trees, and two horses work the land. The vineyards have been farmed organically for over two decades, with fruit trees planted throughout the vine rows to encourage biodiversity and native fauna.

In the cellar, Blanchard works without additions — no sulfites, no fining agents, no filtration. Fermentation and aging vessels vary by vintage and cuvée, with decisions made based on the specific character of each harvest. La Presse in 2019 was fermented as whole bunches for approximately one month and then aged for a year in cuve before bottling.

Wine region

Loire Valley, France

Touraine sits at the center of the Loire Valley, stretching along the Loire River and its tributaries around the city of Tours. The climate transitions from oceanic in the west to increasingly continental moving east, a shift that influences ripening windows and wine structure across the region. Soils are highly varied: flinty clay locally called perruches, limestone-rich tuffeau, sandy gravel, and deposits of silex. This combination of climate and geology produces wines with characteristic brightness and layered mineral character.

Touraine AOC covers reds, whites, rosés, and sparkling wines, with Cabernet Franc as the leading red grape and Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc dominant in whites. The broader appellation contains several named sub-zones including Chinon, Bourgueil, Vouvray, and Montlouis-sur-Loire. Producers working outside AOC boundaries or using unconventional methods often bottle as Vin de France, which allows greater flexibility in blending and winemaking without the constraints of appellation rules.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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