Appellation: VDF Cuvée: Aunis Colour: Red Grapes: Pineau d’Aunis About: another new wine for 2020, all about the herbal, sanguine, iron cherry fruit of the grape variety. Vines Location: Saumur on the heights of Dampierre Size ha: 0.8 Age: planted 2010 Soils: limestone clay Exposition: north south Altitude m: 70 Training: on wire Farming: organic, … Continue reading Bobinet VDF Rouge Aunis
Appellation: VDF Cuvée: Piak! Colour: Red Grapes: Grolleau Noir About: Piak is a slang word for the sound of a slap, in this case when you quench your thirst! Emeline and her friends use it to indicate they have “a dry mouth”, or rather, that they need a drink… Piak! First year made 2020. Fantastic … Continue reading Bobinet VDF Rouge Piak!
Appellation: VDF Cuvée: Ida Colour: White Grapes: Chenin Blanc About: a skin contact wine that’s really more white than orange and stays very true to the soil and variety, made from the same grapes as Poil. Super aromatic and remarkably persistent, giving pleasure once opened for a week. Ida is Sebastien’s grandmother, also vigneronne. Vines … Continue reading Bobinet VDF Blanc Ida
Appellation: Saumur Blanc Cuvée: Les Gruches Colour: White Grapes: Chenin Blanc About: from two tiny parcels of low yielding old vines that originally served Sebastien to make an off-dry wine which he abandoned. Then Emeline took a liking again to the parcel in 2011 and the new Cuvée was born. More dramatic, with intensity expected … Continue reading Bobinet Saumur Blanc Les Gruches
Appellation: VDF Cuvée: Rififi a Beaulieu Colour: Sparkling White Grapes: Chenin Blanc About: a very small production of wonderfully easy drinking pet nat with plenty of interest, bottled 3 days into fermentation, made in conjunction with their friend Bruno Richard in Varrains. Vines Location: in Varrains next to Saumur. Age: years old. Soils: limestone and … Continue reading Bobinet Rififi a Beaulieu Pet Nat
Appellation: IGP. Cuvée: Grolleau. Colour: Sparkling pink. Grapes: Grolleau 80% Gamay 20%. About: A Petillant Naturel originally made entirely from Grolleau, now with some Gamay, one of the funnest quaffing pinks we’ve tasted, from a producer who knows how to make very precise and chiseled, minimalist, bone dry white. Vines Location: from the communes of … Continue reading Sébastien Brunet IGP Grolleau Bulles
Who: Sebastien Bobinet and Emeline Calvez. What: Saumur-Champigny and Saumur Blanc. Where: Saumur. When: Since 2002. Website Sebastien is the seventh generation to farm the land in Saumur. He started by taking over just a couple of hectares from his grandparents. The Domaine has grown to 4 hectares since then. In 2011, his partner Emeline … Continue reading Domaine Bobinet
Appellation: Saumur-Champigny Cuvée: La Haye Dampierre Colour: Red Grapes: Cabernet Franc About: First produced in 2013, from a small parcel of 40 year old vines on sandy limoneux soils. Antoine comments that the terroir here is a pleasure to work since it’s well sheltered, albeit north, north-east facing. Vines Location: Varrains, hameau de Chaintre, not … Continue reading Antoine Sanzay Saumur-Champigny La Haye Dampierre
Appellation: Saumur Blanc Cuvée: Les Salles Martin Colour: White Grapes: Chenin Blanc About: Antoine’s first and only white until 2018. It possesses a very different character from the Chenin’s of the Touraine, in Vouvray and Jasnieres and from those of the Anjou around Angers. This is firm, rich, bone dry, very elegant. As of the … Continue reading Antoine Sanzay Saumur Blanc Les Salles Martin
About: Appellation: Saumur-Champigny Cuvée: Les Terres Rouges Colour: Red Grapes: Cabernet Franc About: Antoine’s newest wine, first produced in 2016, from one tiny parcel of young Cabernet Franc vines. Antoine spotted the difference in the site and produces a wine quite distinct from the others due to the soil, later picking and use of part … Continue reading Antoine Sanzay Saumur-Champigny Les Terres Rouges
Appellation: Saumur-Champigny Cuvée: Les Poyeux Colour: Red Grapes: Cabernet Franc About: Antoine’s version of this celebrated vineyard, where he’s fortunate to own four hectares, which abut those of Clos Rougeard. It was first produced by Antoine in 2011 and just gets better and better every year as Antoine gets to know the fruit. Farmed organically, … Continue reading Antoine Sanzay Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux
Appellation: Saumur-Champigny Cuvée: Domaine / Paterne from 2019 Colour: Red Grapes: Cabernet Franc About: Renamed Paterne with the 2019 vintage. Antoine’s entry level wine is a lovely, pure expression of this terroir. It smacks of Curnonsky’s admonition that “things should taste of what they are”. And it demonstrates the level of quality achievable and why … Continue reading Antoine Sanzay Saumur-Champigny Cuvée Domaine / Paterne
Who: Antoine Sanzay What: Saumur-Champigny, Touraine, Loire Where: Varrains, Maine-et-Loire When: Since 2002 The Story For many years, Saumur-Champigny, mostly red and sometimes white, was just another wine to slake thirsts in Paris Bistros. Its red grape Cabernet Franc destined also to lie in the shadow of much more famous Cabernet Sauvignon and the wines … Continue reading Antoine Sanzay
Who: Sébastien Brunet What: Vouvray, Touraine, Loire Where: Chançay, Indre-et-Loire When: since 1974 The Story Sébastien Brunet is a fast-rising new star of the Touraine region of the Loire. Based in Vouvray, just north of the river between Tours and Blois, he is helping to re-define Chenin Blanc. Sébastien’s a big, young guy, quiet and … Continue reading Sébastien Brunet
For the last couple of months we’ve seen the harvest all over southern France and some of Spain. This Newsletter captures a day during harvest at Les Clos Perdus. Please enjoy – it’s a bit of a longer one, the day, too. 2018 has been a year of wildly varying weather conditions, challenges and viewpoints … Continue reading Overcoming the challenge of the 2018 harvest in the south of France
