Château de Coulaine, 2020 Chinon
Château de Coulaine is one of the most historic estate's in the Chinon appellation. The history of Château de Coulaine can be traced back to 1470, and the estate has remained in the de Bonnaventure's family's hands since the beginning. The château itself was constructed in 1470, and the family's archives show that grapes have been grown on the property and wine has been made here since at least 1430.
Since 2017, Jean de Bonnaventure and his wife Tatiana, have continued the work that Jean's grandfather started back in the 1930s and that his parents continued through the 1980s. Today, Jean and Tatiana are farming 19.5 hectares of vines, 16 of which are Cabernet Franc, predominantly in the commune of Beaumont-en-Véron, with some parcels also in the commune of Thizay on the south side of the Vienne River. Their vineyards have been farmed organically since 1994, certified since 1997.
Today we're looking at one of their early-drinking cuvées, which is coming from 8 hectares of vines across several parcels in Beaumont-en-Véron, and represents the largest portion of their production.
In Beaumont-en-Véron we find generally two types of terroirs - alluvial soils and then tuffeau chalk-derived soils. We actually have two different kinds of alluvial soils that date to the quaternary era which we can find in two different places. At lower elevations of about 35m asl close to the Vienne River we have the ancient river-derived alluvial soils that are sandy-silt with gravels, and then at higher elevations on plateaus at 70 to 75m, we have wind-deposited aeolian sands. And then at elevations of about 50 to 60m above sea level we find the tuffeau-derived soils, and we find both the upper and middle Turonian tuffeau depending on the lieu-dit and parcel.
So, as mentioned, this wine is coming from about 8ha from several lieux-dits that are all situated on the tuffeau-derived soils. Approximately 50% of the parcels for this cuvée are on a very unique soil that is known locally as millarges. And millarges are these very light, crumbly, yellow limestone sands that are derived from the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau. We can find millarges in pockets across several communes across the Chinon appellation, and I think this soil may be unique to Chinon. And these limestone-derived sands are different from the sands that are of alluvial origin in a few ways. They are of marine origin, tend to be more shallow, less fertile, and have better water holding capacity because of their proximity to the tuffeau bedrock. The orientations of the parcels vary, as well as the depths of the topsoils, anywhere from 30cm to 1.5m, but the common thread that links all of the parcels are that they are sandier soils on a bedrock of the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau, with millarges making up the majority of the soils in the parcels. And the vines are on average around 25-30 years of age.
For the winemaking for this wine, all the fruit is hand-harvested, 100% destemmed, and left whole berry. Fermentation is on the cooler side, around 20C, and the fermentation takes place with indigenous yeast in 60hl conical wooden vats as well as 50hl concrete vats. The wine stays on skins for about 3 to 4 weeks, with some light pumping overs to homogenize the must during the first third of the fermentation, then remainder is left to macerate via infusion. The cuvée is a combination of both free run and press wine, and these components are aged separate before being re-assembled. The élevage takes place in a combination of concrete tanks and 10-year old oak foudres for about 6 to 9 months before a light filtration and then bottling.
Key wine facts below:
Producer: Château de Coulaine
Appellation: Chinon
Commune: Beaumont-en-Véron
Lieu-Dit: Clos de Coulaine, Coulaine, La Garenne de Coulaine, La Fosse des Hauts Brancs, Les Baffés, Les Mouches aux Veaux
Soil: 50% of parcels are planted on millarge (yellow limestone sands), sands and silts over the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau bedrock
Alcohol: 13.0%
