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 Loire.
Size: 1.1 hectares.
Age: vines planted around 1975.
Soils: sandy, silty soil.
Exposition: north, north-east facing, well sheltered, frost-free.
Altitude: 100m.
Training: wire trained.
Farming: organic, ploughing, cover crops.
Average yield hl/ha: 45.
Climate: continental with cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers.
Winemaking
The harvest is picked by hand into small crates and carefully sorted upon entry to the cellar. The fruit is de-stemmed and moved to inox mechanically without any pumping. It’s fermented by natural yeasts and without any additives other than a minimal dose of sulfites with a maceration of around 21 days. Then the wine is pressed and moved to do malo and age in concrete eggs (and some old barriques 2017) for 9 months before bottling unfined and unfiltered.
Vintage Notes 2017
Yield hl/ha: 25.
Harvested: September.
Bottles produced: 4,000.
Date bottled: 2018-09.
Alcohol: 12.84 %
SO2 Total: 27
Tasting: Great balance, relaxed wine, with soft, vegetal tannins, broad on the palate, with a fabulous red berry and floral fruit character.
Vintage Notes 2018
A lovely year with a great balance due to nature’s delivery of the right amount at the right time of both rain and sunshine. The risk of mildew was minimised. The resultant wines pack a lovely vegetal juiciness with pure aromas.
Yield hl/ha: 45.
Harvested: One of the earlier of the reds, from September 20.
Bottles produced: 4,000.
Date bottled: 2019-09.
Alcohol: 13.34 %.
SO2 Total: 31.
Tasting: Super red fruit, with notes leather, violets, high-toned, firm tannins, with great acid cut.
Vintage Notes 2019
A generally excellent year spoiled by a frost in spring which reduced the crop by 40%. After, there was plenty of sunshine, a good floraison, some heatwave which didn’t hurt. Quite high degrees but great acidity anyway due to work of soil, and the calcaire base.
Reduced production due to pulling out some unproductive vines in this parcel.
Yield hl/ha: 40
Harvested: early, mid september all in 8 days
Bottles produced: 2,100
Date bottled: 2020-09
Alcohol: 13.5 %
SO2 Total: around 25
Tasting: beautiful floral, rose, cinnamon, exotic mango, spice, bit more volume in the tannins, muscular even, some leather, will go great with kobe beef, excellent.