The Fabien Duveau Saumur-Champigny Ménais 2023 is a bright, medium-bodied Cabernet Franc from Saumur-Champigny in the Loire Valley, built for drinking rather than contemplating. Juicy dark berry fruit sits over the leafy, savoury edge that makes this part of the Loire worth knowing.

Crushed raspberry and blackcurrant lead the aromatics, backed by violet, wet stone and a twist of green peppercorn. Air brings out something earthier — bramble, tobacco leaf, a hint of graphite — and the fruit stays fresh rather than sweet.

Fermented with native yeasts in concrete and drawn from organically and biodynamically farmed vines, Ménais keeps a fine-grained, almost powdery tannin and a clean line of acidity through the middle. The body is light-footed, the texture supple, and the finish is dry and faintly herbal, closing on red fruit and crushed leaf rather than weight.

Serve it slightly cool with roast chicken and thyme, duck breast, lamb backstrap, pork rillettes or a mushroom and lentil braise. Cabernet Franc from Saumur-Champigny also does the hard work with vegetable dishes — grilled capsicum, ratatouille, beetroot — where most reds struggle.

Drink the 2023 now through to about 2030, with a decant or an hour open in the first couple of years to let the aromatics stretch out.