Domaine Les Hautes Noelles "heho" Rouge 2010

A blend of three grapes, the delightful and easy drinking, HeHo Rouge is 45% Cabernet Franc, 45% Grolleau and 10% Gamay. All indigenous varietals from the Loire and all in perfect fruit, acidity and tannic balance. 

The HeHo is a wine we'd love to hate. It's almost too inexpensive and too easy to drink. Us wine geeks love to be challenged, so when we come across something so rose petal-y and fruity, and then so lively and bright we don't know what to do with ourselves! The Gamay and Grolleau are fermented using carbonic maceration (whole grape cluster fermentation) and the Cabernet Franc is fermented traditionally. They are blended after to create HeHo.  

It's inexpensive enough to stock the house, it's versatile enough for just about any foods and it tastes good with a chill or as is.  What can't this wine do? Clean.. it can't clean. 

HeHo Rouge  $12 a bottle

meet the winemaker

Serge Batard
From his 24 hectares of vineyard land centered in the Cotes de Grandlieu sub-zone, proprietor Serge Batard crafts staggeringly intense Muscadet and bright Gamay that, nonetheless, display all the zingy acidity and palpable minerality you’d expect from this seaside appellation. By working the soils throughout the vegetation cycle, they are able to avoid the use of chemical fertilizers and weed killers in the vineyards. Prolonged lees aging and bottling without racking give the wines extra texture and richness. Furthermore, Batard vinifies his parcels separately, harvesting by hand and blending just before bottling for maximum control over the final wine. Truly stupendous quality here!

Now add to that the exciting red wines (the Gamay Rouge and the charming Hého Rouge), Batard is now truly a force to be reckoned with for quality wine from the Loire - at a bargain...