Béatrice et Pascal Lambert, 2017 Chinon ‘Les Puys’
The story of the Lambert family's domaine begins in 1987, when Béatrice and her husband Pascal purchased their first 4ha of vines in the commune of Cravant-Les-Coteaux. Today, Béatrice and Pascal's son Antoine has joined the domaine, and they have since grown the estate to 18ha of vines with parcels in the communes of Cravant-Les-Côteaux and Chinon. They began farming their vineyards organically in earnest in 1995, receiving full organic certification in 2005. Shortly there after they began the conversion to biodynamics, eventually receiving certification in 2012. They make several examples of terroir-specific expressions of Cabernet Franc, and today we are looking their Les Puys.
Les Puys is a lieu-dit located in a very interesting part of the Chinon appellation. And in the 20 videos I have done to date featuring wines of Chinon, this is the first opportunity I've had to explore in depth this part of the appellation known as the Puys du Chinonais, or the Puys of Chinon as we would say in English. The term puy is derived from the Latin podium, referring to a platform that is raised. And that is essentially what these puys are. They are these low elevation, domed hillocks that were formed over time through the erosion of the Upper Turonian tuffeau chalk.
There are 8 main puys and they are located in the western part of the Chinon appellation, specifically in the communes of Chinon and Beaumont-en-Véron. There are two puys in commune of Beaumont-en-Véron, and 6 puys in Chinon commune, all of which are located to the north and west of the village itself. They cover about 70 hectares of land, and the lowest one rises to about 30m above sea level, and the tallest to about 88m above sea level.
Here in this particular part of the Chinon appellation, the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau chalk is rich in quartz making it particularly resistant to erosion. And in some instances, we find this harder more resistant form of the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau chalk along side the sandier, more crumbly "millarges" which is another type of the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau chalk which is rich in silica, and the presence of these two types of limestone side by side led to the formation of these puys, which are these domed chalk mounds.
The domed and sloping nature of these puys allows for greater solar intensity as well as excellent drainage due to the thinner topsoils. The topography coupled with the fact that we are at the confluence of the Loire and Vienne Rivers, the area around puys experiences warmer temperatures and less rainfall than anywhere else in Chinon. All these factors combined, the climate, geology, soils and topography, has created this unique mesoclimate here, and because of the heat, solar intensity and the arid nature of the environment, we find a wide diversity of plants, animals and insects more typical of a Mediterranean climate, things like juniper, almond trees, wild thyme, orchids, and other plants and shrubs we might collectively refer to as 'garrigue' that we don't find anywhere else in Chinon.
The Chinon appellation describes this area as a Mediterranean island in the appellation, and the mesoclimate in combination of the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau soils creates a grape growing environment capable of cultivating Cabernet Franc grapes that can produce long-lived, structured examples of Chinon.
Looking a little closer at today's wine, this is coming from a single lieu-dit, Les Puys, which is located about a little less than 2km north of the Chinon fortress. We are situated just east of one of the puys, Les Trottes-Loup, very close to the hamlet of Rochette. The Lambert family has around 1.7ha here, and the parcels have an eastern exposure, and we are at an elevation of about 84m above sea level. In terms of soils in this lieu-dit, we do find an example of those two types of Upper Turonian tuffeau here side by side, with a portion of the Lambert parcels on the harder, dense Upper turonian tuffeau chalk and some parcels on the sandier, more crumbly, millarges. In both cases, we are on a relatively shallow sandy-clay topsoil, with a moderate amount of stoniness. The vines are on average 20 to 25 years of age.
From a winemaking perspective, the fruit was hand-harvested and destemmed. The fruit is transferred into the fermentation vessel without the use of pumps to ensure the berries remain whole and in tact. The fermentation is with indigenous yeast in large, conical wooden vats. The wine undergoes a long maceration, upwards to 40 to 50 days, with some pigeage at the beginning of fermentation. A portion of the press wine is reincorporated into the free run wine, and aging is in 50HL oak foudres for 12 months, followed by 15 months in concrete, prior to bottling.
Key wine facts below:
Producer: Domaine Béatrice et Pascal Lambert
Appellation: Chinon
Commune: Chinon
Lieu-Dit: Les Puys
Soil: Sandy-clay topsoil, Upper Turonian tuffeau chalk and “millarges” bedrock
Alcohol: 14.0%
