Roches Neuves Saumur-Champigny 2023

Roches Neuves Saumur-Champigny is Thierry Germain's calling card, a biodynamic Cabernet Franc drawn from parcels across four communes.

Saumur-Champigny is the leading red appellation of the middle Loire, where Cabernet Franc grows on tuffeau limestone. Domaine des Roches Neuves, at Varrains, assembles this wine from the estate's many parcels around Varrains, Chaintres, Dampierre and Saumur, with vines ranging from ten to seventy years of age and averaging around thirty. Among them is Le Clos, the domaine's home vineyard, ploughed by the family's Ardennais draft horse. Farming is biodynamic throughout. The fruit is harvested by hand, some parcels are given a cold soak and worked by gentle infusion rather than hard extraction, and both the wild-yeast fermentation and the maturation take place mostly in tank. Apart from a minimal ten parts per million of sulphur at bottling, the wine sees no additions. The result is pure and floral rather than structural, which is very much the modern Saumur idiom.

Drinking well on release and good for five or six years. Serve at 16-18°C, lightly chilled if you prefer, with pork chops, pâté or roast chicken.

*Every effort is made to ensure the current vintage is accurate; however, variations can occur. If you are after a specific vintage, please contact us prior to ordering.