Domaine Nau, 2020 Bourgueil ‘Les Brunetières’
For four generations, Nau family was farming their polyculture domaine in the commune of Ingrandes-de-Touraine in Bourgueil, with the estate most recently led by brothers Patrice and Bertrand, and their brother-in-law Abel. With retirement looming and no one in the family interested in taking over the domaine, the estate was purchased by established vignerons Jean-Martin Dutour and Christophe Baudry, who took this family domaine under their wing as their first venture for Cabernet Franc for Domaines Baudry-Dutour outside the Chinon appellation. The estate today is comprised of 18 hectares of Cabernet Franc vines, from which the estate is making 3 cuvées, including two cuvée parcellaires from lieux-dits Les Brunetières and Les Blottières.
So today's wine is taking us to the commune of Ingrandes-de-Touraine in the easternmost part of the Bourgueil AOP. It is bordered to the west by Restigné and bordered to the east by the tiny commune of Saint-Patrice, and actually from an administrative perspective, Ingrandes-de-Touraine and St-Patrice have been amalgamated to form the commune of Coteaux-sur-Loire - a name that actually suggests what we are dealing with in terms of terroirs in this commune. With the exception of a small area in the southwestern part of the commune, the majority of the commune of Ingrandes-de-Touraine is defined my Turonian tuffeau chalky slopes.
The main vineyard area in the commune begins about 2km north of the Loire River, and stretches inland about 2km. It is worth noting we are much closer to the Loire River here than in other parts of the appellation because of how the Loire shifts its course ever so slightly. So this easterly position of the commune, coupled with the proximity of the Loire and the surrounding Forêt de Rochecotte means that this is definitely a cooler part of the Bourgueil AOP.
In terms of soils, as I noted, there is only one small area of alluvial soils is localized in the southwestern part of the commune, around the lieu-dit Minière. This area represents the easternmost part of the ancient alluvial terrace that continues into Restigné, Bourgueil and eventually St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil. This is where we find deeper sands sandy-silts with gravels.
And then the rest of the commune is dominated by the slopes, and there are two sections of sloping vineyards that are flanked on either side of the village. On the west side, we have the continuation of the sloping vineyards that begin in Benais. This area is defined by primarily south facing slopes, that are influenced by the mostly the Middle Turonian white tuffeau chalk, with a narrow band of the Upper Turonian tuffeau towards the top of the slope.
Then on the east side of the village, because of the shift in topography, this area is dominated by slightly steeper, more west-facing slopes, with a few south-facing slopes as you move from west to east. In terms of soils, we will find predominantly the influence of both the Middle and Upper Turonian tuffeau chalk, as well as some vineyards higher plateaus with Senonian clays and sands mixed with flint. Across the border we will find more clay-dominated topsoils on the slopes in Ingrandes-de-Touraine.
So today's wine is coming from a single lieu-dit, Les Brunetières. And if this lieu-dit sounds familiar to some of you out there, you would be correct. This is notable lieu-dit on the slopes, that is about 20 hectares in size, and there are several vignerons with parcels here and making single-vineyard wines from their parcels. The lieu-dit is in the northwestern part of Ingrandes-de-Touraine, with a full south-facing exposure, at the highest point on the slope in the commune. The lieu-dit was named Les Brunetières for the brownish colour of the clay that overlays the tuffeau talk. Domaine Nau has about 2.5 hectares at Les Brunetières. Their vines were planted between 1954 and 1999, but this cuvée is coming from their oldest vines, so between 50 and 70 years on average. Their parcels have a southern exposure, with a shallow clayey topsoil followed the Middle Turonian white tuffeau chalk.
From a winemaking perspective, the fruit is all hand-harvested, hand-sorted and destemmed. The fermentation takes place in concrete with indigenous yeast, with a moderate fermentation temperature, and some light pumping over during the fermentation and post-fermentation maceration. The total time on skins is about 3 weeks. After the post-fermentation maceration, the free run and press wines are separated, and only the free run wine is used in the finish cuvée, and that is further aged in concrete for two years before bottling.
Key wine wine facts below:
Producer: Domaine Nau
Appellation: Bourgueil
Commune: Ingrandes-de-Touraine
Lieux-Dits: Les Brunetières
Soils: Shallow brownish clay over the Middle Turonian white tuffeau chalk
Alcohol: 14%
