Domaine Guiberteau, 2018 Saumur Rouge ‘Les Arboises’
The story of Domaine Guiberteau as we know it today begins with Romain's grandfather Robert, who inherited their first parcels of vines in the village of Saint-Just-sur-Dive from his father-in-law in 1935. Following the war, Robert's pursuits as a vigneron became more serious, and recognizing the long history of viticulture and the potential in the neighbouring commune of Brézé, Robert acquired his first hectares here in 1954, including the parcels of the famed Clos des Carmes and Les Arboises, which are now Guiberteau's top white and red cuvées, respectively.
Following Robert's retirement in 1976, there were no heirs interested in becoming a vigneron, so the domaine's parcels were rented out to the cooperative, that is until Romain, Robert's grandson, made the decision to return to the family domaine to pursue a life as a vigneron. Under the guidance of Charly and Nady Foucault of Clos Rougeard, Romain made his first vintage in 1996. And for the better part of the next twenty years, Romain continued his stage with Clos Rougeard, all the while vinifying his own wines and growing his domaine to what we know it today.
Today Domaine Guiberteau is comprised of about 14.5 hectares of vineyards, about 7.5 hectares planted with Chenin and 7 hectares of Cabernet Franc. The parcels are scattered across the communes of Saint-Just-sur-Dive, Montreuil-Bellay, Épieds, and, of course, Brézé. Romain makes four red cuvées, and more recently also a rosé, from his Cabernet Franc vines, and the reds include his domaine wine, as well as the cuvée Les Moulins, both of which are blends from multiple parcels, and then two cuvées parcellaires Les Chapaudaises in Épieds and Les Arboises in Brézé, his top red wine. The vineyards have been farmed organically since 2003, receiving certification in 2007.
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, and Saint-Just-sur-Dive to the west. 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 is about 85m above sea level, 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, we find 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. And this brings me to Les Arboises, which is in a very Cabernet Franc-friendly part of Brézé.
Les Arboises is a 1ha lieu-dit, and this site has been part of the Guiberteau holdings since the beginning, and it was planted by Romain's grandfather by selection massale in 1957. This lieu-dit is located in the western part of this area that follows the crest of the hill just a few hundred metres east of Château de Brézé. The vineyard is on a gentle south-southwest facing slope at an elevation of around 80 to 85m above sea level, so we're in fact at one of the highest points in the commune here at Les Arboises.
In terms of soils, we are in a part of the commune that has deeper soils that date to the Senonian age, and these are predominantly sand with quartz clays. So the topsoil is a clayey sand (sable argileux), about 70% sand, followed by a subsoil that is the same texture. So we have a over a metre of topsoil before the tuffeau, and Romain's grandfather said that the rule when it comes to planting vines, that is Chenin versus Cabernet Franc, is that if there is more than a metre of topsoil you plant Cabernet Franc, and less than a meter you plan Chenin.
From a winemaking perspective, Romain tends to pick on the earlier side, with a focus on skin ripeness as opposed to seed ripeness. The wine is hand-harvested, destemmed and hand-sorted. Fermentation is in larger wooden vats with indigenous yeast, and the total time on skins is about 15 days. The approach to extractions here is infusion, which is particularly important when harvesting earlier. The free run wine is drained off its skins, and then when it comes to the press wine, Romain will taste the pressings and incorporate the press wine as he sees fit for the cuvée and the vintage. Aging for the Les Arboises is the only cuvée in Guiberteau's range that sees aging in new oak, and this percentage has decreased over the years, and for the 2018 it was about 50% new oak, 50% second use barrles, and aging was for 2 years in barrel followed by 6 months in stainless steel before bottling.
Key wine wine facts below:
Producer: Domaine Guiberteau
Appellation: Saumur Rouge
Commune: Brézé
Lieux-Dits: Les Arboises
Soils: More than 1m of Senonian clayey-sand (sable argileux) topsoil and subsoil over tuffeau
Alcohol: 13.0%
