The vineyard is comprised of 16 hectares of Cabernet Franc - this grape variety produces red wine from the Loire Valley of the AOC Saumur-Champigny - divided up into about twenty plots split between the villages of Saumur, Dampierre, Chacé, Varrains and Souzay-Champigny. The average age of the vines is around 45 years, and the oldest plots date back to 1937.
A small plot of Chenin – white grape variety - produces Saumur Blanc, a dry white wine from the Loire Valley.
The vines planted in limestone and chalk soils of the Cretaceous (Middle Turonian, 90 million years ago) produce the best Saumur-Champigny.
In Saumur, vines grow on gentle slopes traditionally enclosed by walls and there are some picturesque remains. These freestone walls, which are typical of the local vineyard, provide protection for the vines and optimal brightness to aid maturation of the grapes.
The vineyard and his « terroir »
Respect for nature
For over 40 years, we have allowed grass to grow between the vine rows on all of our plots, for a more environmentally friendly approach.
The cellar of the estate
The area of Saumur is known for its limestone: the tufa. The first cellars were dug by man, over a thousand years ago and make up a huge underground network. Many fossils, for example ammonites and oysters, were discovered during the extraction of limestone blocks.
By digging these tunnels in the "tuffe", our ancestors achieved two things:
- They exploited this natural material for the construction of buildings which remain the pride of the Loire Valley as castles, abbeys, churches, houses and enclosed vineyards...
- Then they used these galleries as a shelter for themselves or for their livestock and as place of winemaking.
These cellars have the advantage of providing ideal conditions for wine storage because of high relative humidity and temperature being both fresh and constant (≈12°C).
From the 15th century, galleries dug into hillside have served as troglodytic dwellings. At the end of the 19th century, some were converted into mushroom factories.
The family’s tufa-stone cellar is ideal for the long barrel-ageing of our wines (3 years on average).