Arnaud Lambert (Ch. de Brézé), 2011 Saumur Rouge ‘Clos de l’Etoile’
Domaine Arnaud Lambert is the amalgamation of two domaines. The vineyards of Domaine St-Just, which is the Lambert family domaine established by Arnaud's father in 1996, and the vineyards of Château de Brézé, which Arnaud and his father began to work with in 2009 having signed a long term lease to work and manage these vineyards. Their vineyard parcels are in three communes, Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg and Montsoreau in Saumur-Champigny, and Brézé in the Saumur AOP. Among the reds coming from Brézé include the Clos Mazurique, Clos Tue Loup and Clos de l'Étoile.
The vineyards of Château de Brézé have had a long history, with the wines once being served in the courts of the Kings of France, and on the table of the elite. It is said that the sweet wines of the estate were once traded at the same price as Château d'Yquem. But over the course of the 20th century, through the negligence of the descendants of the noblemen that once lived at the château, its vineyards fell into a state of disrepair and the wines commercialized into touristy plonk. Enter Arnaud and his father in 2009, who became the custodians of these historic clos, and took it upon themselves to restore the vineyards and the health of the soils and vines with the hopes of showcasing and elevating these great terroirs through the finished wines. And while there once was a time centuries ago that Château de Brézé had a reputation of producing great wines, it's modern day image is just the opposite, so as of 2017, the wines from these clos are labelled under the Arnaud Lambert domaine, in an effort to bring greater recognition to these very special vineyards and the work of Arnaud and his team.
Let's take a closer look at the Brézé commune and its vineyards. The historical commune of Brézé is situated about 10km due south of the village of Saumur, set back from the Loire River. The northern border of the commune follows the Southern border of Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg, and we have the commune of Épied to the east, and the commune of Montreuil-Bellay to the south. The majority of the vineyards in the commune are concentrated in an area that is roughly 2.5km wide from east to west, and 2.5km from north to south. And this vineyard area follows, what is often referred to as the "Brézé Hill" in most books and articles.
The highest point of this hill, which is about 85m above sea level, is just 400m southeast of the château, and from here the vineyards generally follow the perimeter of this peak to the north, northeast, east, and south, and slowly slope their way downward to an elevation of about 50m above sea level at its lowest point to the north and northeast, while to the east and south, the vineyards tend to level off at about 60 to 65m above sea level. Because of the positioning of this hill, the vineyards surrounding it will have any number of exposures, generally with more north-exposed sites in the northern end of the commune, and vineyards with southern exposures to the south. But there are plenty of exceptions to this rule.
In terms of soils, the terroir landscape across the commune is quite complex and heterogeneous, but there are some broad observations we can make. First and foremost, with the exception of a handful of spots that follow the crest of the hill, the topsoil across the commune is quite shallow. That is, we are hitting the mother rock within 50 to 90cm of the surface. Second, the elevations across the commune help to give us a bit of an indication as to the type and origin of the soils we find where.
On the lower slopes of the hill, primarily in the northern and southern parts of the vineyard area, these areas generally hover between 50 and 65m above sea level, and this is where we find the Middle Turonian tuffeau bedrock, which is this glauconitic-micaceous chalk known locally as craie verte. On these lower slopes as well, we tend to find more silty-clay topsoils.
On the higher slopes, the picture is a little less clear cut. Here there is a narrow band of terroirs that follow the crest of the hill from west to east, and these are elevations between 70 and 78m above sea level. This is where we find pockets of the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau, heavier red clays from the Bartonian age, sands and sandy-clays from the Senonian age, and in many cases alternating layers of all of these soils. In terms of topsoils, we generally find more sandy topsoils on these higher slopes, with pockets of heavier clays in places as well.
Because of the variability of these exposures on the hill, as well how shallow the soils are across the commune, site selection for Cabernet Franc requires a bit more careful consideration.
Looking a little closer at the lieu-dit for today's wine, this spot of l'Étoile is quite a special one, first appearing on maps dating to the early 1800s. We are on the eastern edge of the commune, about 2km southeast of the Château de Brézé, just adjacent to the hamlet of Grand Fond. This Clos is about 1.7ha, and we are on a gentle southwest-facing slope, with an elevation between 70 and 73m above sea level, and the vines are on average around 35 years of age. In terms of soils, we have two major parts to the vineyard. In both instances, the bedrock influence is the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau, which is evident just by looking at the topsoil, which has this beautiful ochre hue to it. The upper portion has a thinner silty-clay topsoil, about 50cm, with quite a bit of flint throughout followed by the yellow chalk bedrock. Then the lower portion of the vineyard has a deeper soils over all, with a topsoil that is an iron-rich sand, and subsoil with less clay and silt, and we're looking at an overall depth of about 1m before we hit the bedrock. Another really interesting element to the topsoil is how stony it is here. When I visited this site with Arnaud last spring, I was mesmerized by the diversity of the stones here. Because of the proximity to the Massif Armoricain to the west, we find all kinds of rock in this site. Not just limestone rocks and pebbles, but also sandstones, schists and slates as well.
From a winemaking perspective, as this is a 2011, and it is important to note that Arnaud has evolved his winemaking practices since this vintage as his understanding of the site and its soils has improved. In the first few years after beginning to work these parcels, Arnaud would've leaned a little more heavily on extractions, longer macerations times, slightly longer elevage in oak, and higher percentage of new oak. So for the 2011, the fruit was hand picked, fermentation with indigenous yeast in tank, and Arnaud would've actively done pumpovers during the fermentation, maceration would've lasted about 1 month, and then elevage about 24 months in oak, 40% new.
For the 2021 vintage, it is a selection from just the lower portion of the vineyard, and in the cellar, Arnaud did not do any active extractive technique, rather just through a gentle infusion, the wine saw 3 weeks maceration time, and 18 months in oak, only 10% new. Another interesting point is Arnaud has dialled back on his use of sulphur over the years as well, with no sulphur additions to during vinification and élevage, with just a small dose at bottling.
Key wine wine facts below:
Producer: Arnaud Lambert (Château de Brézé)
Appellation: Saumur Rouge
Commune: Brézé
Lieux-Dits: L’Etoile
Soils: Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau chalk bedrock, with 50cm to 1m deep topsoils that are a iron-rich sand, and heavier clay with flint
Alcohol: 13.0%
