Domaine Jeanne Germain - Saumur Champigny 'Bavardages' Cabernet Franc 2024

Red wine

Region: Loire Valley

Appellation: AOC Saumur Champigny 

Grape: 100% Cabernet Franc

Crunchy, unfiltered Cabernet Franc from 40 year old vines.

Bavardages means chatter. The kind that fills a table and keeps everyone in their seats long after the plates have been cleared. Jeanne Germain named her Cabernet Franc for exactly that.

The fruit comes from old vines, averaging forty years, spread across Chaintres, Varrains and Saumur. Underneath sits the chalky tuffeau that gives Saumur-Champigny its lift and freshness, with pockets of sand and clay over limestone. Rows are left to grass over naturally and the vineyards are worked organically and biodynamically.

Everything is picked by hand into crates and passed over a sorting table before it reaches the tank. Fully destemmed, ten days on skins, then four months in old barrels that season the wine without ever marking it. Bottled unfiltered, with as little done to it as possible.

The result is a wine of immediate pleasure. Bright, crunchy red fruit leads, with the graphite and violet edge.