Catherine & Pierre Breton, 2018 Bourgueil ‘Clos Sénéchal’
The Breton family lineage dates back five generations in Bourgueil. The modern story of the estate begins in the mid-1980s when the family began to vinify their own grapes as opposed to selling their fruit to the local cooperative - a very common practice during that time. They began using organic viticultural practices in 1991, and biodynamic in 1994. Today the family has vines in both Bourgueil and Vouvray, where Catherine's family is from. And in Bourgueil they are farming around 12 hectares of Cabernet Franc vines with their vineyards parcels dotted across 3 communes in the appellation, Restigné, Benais and Bourgueil.
The Clos Sénéchal is one of two top "vins de terroirs" or "vin de garde" that the estate makes, the other being Les Perrieres which is a famed lieu-dit in the commune of Bourgueil, and Clos Sénéchal is located in the commune of Benais.
In the Bourgueil appellation there are three major groupings of soils, we have the recent alluvial sandy-silty soils that hug the Loire River, the ancient alluvial soils in the communes of Restigné and Bourgueil that are deep sandy-gravelly soils that are atop the lower turonian tuffeau bedrock, finally we have the Côte which is the furthest set back from the Loire River on the slopes, and this is where we find the Turonian tuffeau chalk bedrock.
The commune of Benais is unique in the appellation as it is the only commune that is exclusively on the côte, so there are no alluvial soils in Benais, rather the vineyards are all on either the lower, middle or Upper turonian tuffeau bedrock depending on where you are in the commune. This commune is quite varied in terms of its topography. In the western part of the commune we have the Changeon River than runs north to south and separates Benais from the Bourgueil commune to the west and in the northeast end of the commune we have the Benais forest.
These two geographical features, the river to the west and the forest to the northeast, define the exposures of the slopes in the commune. In the western part of the commune, the slopes have a southwest exposure, facing the Changeon River. And as you move east the slopes follow an arch shape with slopes in the centre of the commune with a full southern exposure, and the slopes in the east with a slightly more south-southeast exposure.
And in terms of the tuffeau chalk bedrock, the type of bedrock will vary depending on altitude. From 30 to around 50m or so, you will have the influence of the lower Turonian tuffeau, from around 50 to 70m the middle turonian tuffeau, and then over 70m, at the northern edge of the commune, we have vineyards on the upper turonian tuffeau. And I mention all these different tuffeaux because each of them has slightly different properties in terms of density, water holding capacity and mineral content.
Clos Sénéchal is around a 8.5ha lieu-dit in the far eastern part of Benais, right on the border with the commune of Restigné. It is situated about 5km north of the Loire River, and about 3km east of the Changeon River, so we very little as far as moderating influence from these two rivers. The lieu-dit is on a gentle south-southeast facing slope, with altitude ranging from around 56m to around 70m, and the bedrock influence is the middle Turonian white tuffeau chalk. It is believed that the vineyard was once owned by the Comtesse Fitz-James, who was a noblewoman served in the court of Marie Antoinette. Catherine and Pierre Breton have around 1ha in this lieu-dit, and the parcel has been in their family since 1892. Their vines are situated mid-slope, and are around 70 years old, and there is about 30cm of a predominantly clay topsoil on top of the tuffeau bedrock.
In terms of the winemaking, and the fruit was hand picked and destemmed. Fermentation takes place with indigenous yeast in large open top wooden fermenters. The wine stay on skins for about 3 weeks, with very little in terms of pump overs or punch downs. Aging takes place in foudre for about 18 months before bottling. This vineyards naturally yields low, at around 35hl/ha, and annual production of this wine is around 5000 bottles.
Key wine wine facts below:
Producer: Catherine & Pierre Breton
Appellation: Bourgueil
Commune: Benais
Lieux-Dits: Clos Sénéchal
Soils: 30cm predominantly clay topsoil over the middle Turonian tuffeau chalk bedrock
Alcohol: 14%
