Saumur Champigny rouge AOC 2022

A linear Cabernet Franc that favours transparency over power. At 12.5% vol. it stays lean, the fruit remains cool, and the oak steps back behind the site.

The hill of Brézé near Saumur is not a village surrounded by vines but a single limestone ridge that rises noticeably above the surrounding land. Beneath the thin topsoil lies tuffeau, the porous Turonian limestone: it stores water like a sponge and slowly releases it to the vines during dry summers. More than half of the estate's roughly nineteen hectares sit on this hill, with vines ranging from four to eighty years old.

Cabernet Franc, fully destemmed. Fermentation proceeds spontaneously with the estate's own yeasts, and ageing continues in foudres and used barriques. Romain Guiberteau keeps intervention to a minimum: the wine should show the hill, not the cellar.

Crisp cassis and raspberry, joined by violet and a hint of green pepper. Fine-grained tannins, lively acidity, and a chalky, saline finish.

Terrine de campagne and rillettes de Tours, grilled lamb chop with herbs, poulet rôti aux herbes, as well as mushroom risotto or grilled salmon.

Robert Guiberteau bought the first plots at Brézé in 1954. After twenty years under lease, his grandson Romain negotiated the vineyards back parcel by parcel and bottled his first vintage in 1996. He has farmed the vines organically since 2000.