Domaine de la Chevalerie, 2014 Bourgueil ‘Bretêche’
The Caslot family can trace its roots in Bourgueil back to 1640. Today, 14th generation Emmanuel and Laurie have take up reigns at the estate, following the passing of their father Pierre in 2014 and sister Stéphanie in 2021. The family today has 33 hectares of vineyards planted exclusively with Cabernet Franc, and they're parcels are predominantly in the commune of Restigné, with some parcels in Benais, most notably in the lieu-dit Grand-Mont. A core tenet of the family's approach is extremely thoughtful and meticulous work in the vineyard. Their vineyards have been farmed certified organic since 2008, certified biodynamic since 2012, and in addition to this, they are also using regenerative farming practices, such as the use of permanent cover crops and no-till farming.
They make several expressions of Cabernet Franc, including a range they call their Cuvées d'Inspiration, such as their beloved Dyptique, Franco de Porc and Noms d'Oiseaux, and these are all blends across multiple parcels and all have a specific stylistic vision. And then they have an ambitious range of 6 cuvées parcellaires, and theses are wines that are coming from a specific, single lieu-dit, all of which seek to showcase the terroirs from which they come. Of these, and impressive 5 cuvées are from the commune of Restigné, Galichets, Chevalerie, Busardières, Bretêche and Peu Muleau, all from parcels within a 500m radius or less of the domaine, each with their own unique personality, expressive of its terroir.
The commune of Restigné is one of the Bourgueil appellation's most diverse in terms of terroirs. It is located on the east side of the Changeon River, bordered to the north by the commune of Benais and to the east by the commune of Ingrandes-de-Touraine. And Restigné, along with the commune of Bourgueil on the opposite side of the Changeon, are the only two communes in Bourgueil that have of a high concentration of vineyards on the ancient alluvial terrace as well as on the slopes.
The area of the ancient alluvial terrace start about 3km north of the Loire River, and stretch a distance of about 4km from east to west, and is about 1.25km from north to south, and we're at elevations of around 35 to 45m above sea level. The soils here are comprised of mostly sandy, or silty-sandy soils, with varying amounts of gravels, and they sit atop the lower Turonain tuffeau.
And then in the northeast portion of the commune we have the slope which stretches about a little over a km northeast towards the forests to the north, and is about 1.5km wide, and for the most part it has south-western exposure following the tree line to the north. This is where the topsoils become more shallow and we find a lot more clay in the topsoil as well. Here we're at elevations of around 55 to 70m above sea level, and we have predominantly the influence of the Middle Turonain white tuffeau chalk, with a very narrow band of vineyards on the upper turonian yellow tuffeau. And finally, at the very north end of the commune, at elevations of around 75 to 80m above sea level, we find the deep Senonian era clays and sands mixed with flint.
Three of the family's 5 cuvée parcellaires are situated mid-slope, with a southwest facing exposure. Les Galichets is located more towards the foot of the slope, just as the alluvial terraces transitions into the slope, and Peu Muleau is at the very top of the slope. Busardières sits just above Chevalerie, and La Bretêche is located about 500m directly east of Chevalerie. La Bretêche is a 12.5 hectare lieu-dit, and the Caslot family has about 1.65 hectares here. They acquired these parcels in late 1980s, and the first vintage of the cuvée was 1994, and the vines are on average 40 years of age.
In terms of soils, the family has done a lot of work to understand the nuances between the soils in their parcels, and when you go to the domaine, they have the soils from these lieux-dits prominently on display so that you can really understand the diversity of terroirs across this small area. While La Bretêche is directly east of the lieu-dit Chevalerie, it actually has more in common with Busardières from a terroir perspective because of how the slope follows the tree line of the forested area to the north. So here at La Bretêche, we have about 50cm of a sandy-clay topsoil mixed with chalk, sandstone and quartz gravels throughout, followed by anotber 50cm of a very chalky silty-sand subsoil, then we hit the Middle Turonian tuffeau chalk, which is a glauconitic-micaceous chalk.
From a winemaking perspective, the fruit is all hand-harvested, destemmed, and left whole berry. Fermentation is in a combination of concrete and stainless steel with indigenous yeast, and the fermentation temperature is around 25C. The total time on skins is around 34 days, and the approach to maceration is infusion. Following the maceration, the free run wine is drained off the skins, and the skins are gently pressed. The free run and press wines are then reassembled and aged in older 500L oak barrels for around 7 months.
One of the other core elements that makes Domaine de la Chevalerie so beloved among wine professionals and enthusiasts alike, is the fact that they bottle age their wines at the domaine much longer than average. The current releases of La Bretêche from the domaine include the 2014, 2015 and 2017 vintages, each retailing for a mere 20 euros per bottle, and even in most markets outside of France, the wines retail for around 30UDS or less, which is pretty impressive for wines with upwards of 10 years aging.
Key wine wine facts below:
Producer: Domaine de la Chevalerie
Appellation: Bourgueil
Commune: Restigné
Lieux-Dits: Bretêche
Soils: 50cm sandy-clay with chalk, sandstone and quartz stones, 50cm chalky sandy-silt, over the Middle Turonian white tuffeau chalk
Alcohol: 13%
For more on Domaine de la Chevalerie’s cuvées parcellaires in Restigné, please check out my recent post on Substack.
