100% Chenin Blanc. Filliatreau sources fruit from Saumur neighbors for their white, as they have limited Chenin Blanc on their own certified-organic estate; it is named for Paul Filliatreau's wife. The bunches are harvested by hand, pressed directly and fermented to dryness with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks. The wine is aged in tank on its fine lees until the spring following the vintage.
Domaine Filliatreau, a large estate of about 50 hectares located near the city of Saumur, is run by Paul and Frédrik Filliatreau, père et fils. The vineyard of La Grande Vignolle, in the Saumur-Champigny appellation, rests atop a tufa-stone outcrop that runs along the Loire river for a number of kilometers. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the stone, a creamy colored limestone, was quarried for building some of the great monuments and châteaux of the Loire. The soil and subsoil of the vineyard are highly calcareous, which lends the Cabernet Franc grapes juicy flavors and good acidity.
The vines are of considerable age and yields are kept low. The wine is vinified in stainless-steel and bottled unfiltered. It is rich in red fruit flavors, with a touch of tobacco and licorice in the finish and has excellent aging potential. Paul Filliatreau, who twenty years ago did much to put the AOC Saumur-Champigny on the map of great wines, has resolved to go back to “older ways” of tending vines and found the principles of bio-dynamie well suited to this purpose.
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