Aurélien Revillot, 2020 Bourgueil ‘Les Aubuis’
Domaine Aurélien Revillot is a relatively new domaine in Bourgueil with his first vintage being in 2012. Aurélien is originally from Burgundy, and following his viticulture and enology studies in Dijon, he spent time working in Burgundy, South Africa, and the Languedoc, before eventually landing with the Caslot family at Domaine de la Chevalerie in 2010. It is here where Aurélien's love and passion for Cabernet Franc started to blossom, and eventually inspired him to set-up his own domaine in Bourgueil.
Based in Restigné, Aurélien is organically farming 3.5ha of Cabernet Franc vines in the communes of Benais, Restigné, Ingrandes-de-Touraine, and Bourgueil. What is impressive, from these 3.5 hectares, Aurélien is making 5 Cabernet Francs. His Sur-Les-Hauts is a blend from across multiple parcels from the côte. In addition to this, he is making 4 cuvées parcellaires including Grand Mont in Benais, La Bretêche in Restigné, Les Brunetières in Ingrandes-de-Touraine, and Les Aubuis from parcels in the Bourgueil commune, which is what we're looking at today.
While the majority of the communes in the Bourgueil appellation are on the east side of the Changeon River, the Bourgueil commune is the only commune in the appellation on west of the Changeon River. The Changeon flows from north to south, and then takes a hard right turn west around the hamlet of Santenay, and this defines the southern border of the viticultural area in Bourgueil commune.
We have two distinct terroirs in this commune. We have the vineyards that are on the ancient alluvial terrace and we have a narrow band of vineyards that make up the côte, or the slopes. The ancient alluvial terrace starts just north of the Changeon River, so about 5km north of the Loire River, and stretches just around 1.5km to the north, and the vineyards are all dotted to the north and east of the village of Bourgueil.
And the alluvial terrace here is a continuation of the same ancient alluvial terrace that starts in Restigné and continues west across Bourgueil and eventually into St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, and is situated between 40 and 52m above sea level, and this is where we very deep sandy-gravelly soils that sit atop the lower Turonian tuffeau bedrock.
And the area of the côte is at the very north end of the commune starting about 6.5km north of the Loire. Unlike in Benais where the côte is quite wide and the slopes are a bit more gradual, in the Bourgueil commune the côte is quite narrow, around 300 to 500m wide, on a much more dramatic slope.
In terms of exposures along the côte, we south-facing or southeast-facing, with a handful of east-facing exposures depending on where you area. So starting around the hamlet of Chevrette, we have predominantly southern exposures for about 1.5km, then the côte slowly begins to curve, following the edge of the forest, producing some southeast-facing slopes, and then continues directly north, following the Changeon River to the east, giving us vineyards with full east-facing exposures. These vineyards are at elevations from 60 to 80ish m above sea level
In terms of soils, the côte in the Bourgueil commune is dominated by mostly shallower clay-ey topsoils, and we'll find the influence of both the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau and Middle Turonian white tuffeau chalk, depending on the parcles. But the majority of the parcels are influenced by the Middle Turonian white tuffeau.
Looking at the parcels for Les Aubuis a bit closer. This is from the lieu-dit Les Aubuis de Marcé, which is located in the eastern part of the commune, on the part of the côte that faces the Changeon River, so we're on a full east-facing slope of a moderate grade. This is about a 10-hectare lieu-dit, and Aurélien has 0.6ha here and his vines were planted in 1992. In terms of soil, Aurélien's parcels on a bit of a mix of the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau and the Middle Turonian white tuffeau, and the topsoil is a variety of clays with depth ranging from to about 60cm to very little clay depending on the parcel. And for Aurélien, this parcel and wine is really all about the clay, versus Grand Mont that is say is more defined by the tuffeau.
From a winemaking perspective, the fruit is hand-harvested and fully destemmed. Fermentation is in a combination of stainless steel and fibreglass, with indigenous yeast, reaching a maximum fermentation temperature of about 24-26C. The total time on skins is about 5 weeks, with some light pumping over just the first week, follow by maceration through infusion for the duration of the post-fermentation maceration. The finished wine is a combination of free run and press wine, and this is aged in new and used 500L oak barrels, about 30% new. The total aging is about 6 to 18 months in barrel, followed by aging in bottle for about 3 years prior to release.
For the soil nerds out there, "aubuis" is a collective term referring to clay-limestone soils, where the clays are derived from decomposed limestone and there is some degree of impact of limestone, and there are several types of aubuis: aubuis legers, aubuis loudres, aubuis blanc, etc.
Key wine wine facts below:
Producer: Aurélien Revillot
Appellation: Bourgueil
Commune: Bourgueil
Lieux-Dits: Les Aubuis de Marcé
Soils: shallow clay topsoil (yellow, white and red clays), over the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau or Middle Turonian white tuffeau depending on the parcels
Alcohol: 13.5%
