Arnaud Lambert (Château de Brézé), 2011 Saumur Rouge ‘Clos de l’Etoile’
Cab Franc du Jour #106
Domaine Arnaud Lambert is the amalgamation of two estates: the vineyards of Domaine Saint-Just, the Lambert family domaine established by Arnaud’s father in 1996, and the vineyards of Château de Brézé, which Arnaud and his father began managing in 2009 under a long-term lease. Their parcels span three communes: Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg and Montsoreau in Saumur-Champigny, and Brézé in the Saumur AOP. The red wines from Brézé include the Clos Mazurique, Clos Tue Loup, and Clos de l’Étoile.
The vineyards of Château de Brézé carry a long and distinguished history. The estate’s wines were once served at the courts of the Kings of France, and its sweet wines were reputedly traded at prices comparable to Château d’Yquem. Over the course of the 20th century, however, through the neglect of the noble family’s descendants, the vineyards fell into disrepair and the wines were reduced to tourist-trade plonk. Arnaud and his father arrived in 2009 as custodians of these historic clos, committed to restoring the vineyards and the health of their soils in order to showcase these exceptional terroirs through the finished wines. Given that the Château de Brézé name had come to represent the opposite of quality in the modern era, the wines from these clos have been labelled under the Arnaud Lambert domaine since 2017, in an effort to bring greater recognition to both the vineyards and the work being done there.
The Commune of Brézé
The historical commune of Brézé sits about 10km due south of the village of Saumur, set back from the Loire River, with Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg to the north, Épieds to the east, and Montreuil-Bellay to the south. The majority of the commune’s vineyards are concentrated in an area roughly 2.5km wide and 2.5km from north to south, following what is commonly referred to as the Brézé hill.
The highest point of this hill, at around 85m above sea level, sits just 400m southeast of the château. From there the vineyards follow the hill’s perimeter to the north, northeast, east, and south, sloping gradually down to around 50m above sea level at the lowest points to the north and northeast, while levelling off at around 60 to 65m to the east and south. The hill’s positioning means vineyards here can face in virtually any direction, with generally more northerly aspects in the northern part of the commune and southerly exposures to the south, though exceptions abound.
The terroir across the commune is complex and heterogeneous. With the exception of a handful of spots along the crest of the hill, topsoils are quite shallow throughout, reaching the bedrock within 50 to 90cm of the surface. Elevation provides a useful guide to what soils are found where.
On the lower slopes, primarily in the northern and southern parts of the vineyard area at around 50 to 65m above sea level, the bedrock is the Middle Turonian tuffeau, the glauconitic-micaceous chalk known locally as craie verte, with more silty-clay topsoils above. On the higher slopes, a narrow band of terroirs follows the crest of the hill from west to east at elevations between 70 and 78m, where pockets of Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau, heavier Bartonian-age red clays, and Senonian-age sands and sandy-clays appear, often in alternating layers. Topsoils here tend to be sandier with occasional pockets of heavier clay. Given the variability of exposures and the consistently shallow soils across the commune, site selection for Cabernet Franc requires particularly careful thought.
The Lieu-Dit L’Étoile
The lieu-dit of l’Étoile is a special one, first appearing on maps dating to the early 1800s. The site sits on the eastern edge of the commune, about 2km southeast of Château de Brézé, just adjacent to the hamlet of Grand Fond. The clos covers approximately 1.7 hectares on a gentle southwest-facing slope at elevations between 70 and 73m above sea level, with vines averaging around 35 years of age.
The vineyard divides into two distinct sections, though both are influenced by the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau bedrock, the ochre hue of the topsoil making that influence immediately visible. The upper portion has a thinner silty-clay topsoil of around 50cm with considerable flint throughout before the yellow chalk bedrock is reached. The lower portion is deeper overall, with an iron-rich sandy topsoil and a subsoil that is less clay and silt-rich, reaching a total depth of around 1m before the bedrock. The stoniness of the site is also striking: because of the proximity of the Massif Armoricain to the west, the topsoil contains not only limestone rocks and pebbles but also sandstones, schists, and slates, a diversity of stone types that makes visiting the site a particularly absorbing experience.
In the Cellar: Then and Now
Because this wine spans two vintages, it is worth tracing how Arnaud’s approach has evolved as his understanding of the site has deepened. In the early years working these parcels, he leaned more heavily on extraction, longer maceration, more extended oak aging, and a higher proportion of new oak. For the 2011 vintage, the fruit was hand-picked and fermented with indigenous yeast in tank, with active pump-overs during fermentation, approximately one month of maceration, and élevage of about 24 months in oak with 40% new.
By the 2021 vintage, the approach had shifted considerably. The selection focused on the lower portion of the vineyard only, and in the cellar all active extraction was abandoned in favour of a gentle infusion throughout. Maceration ran approximately three weeks, with élevage of 18 months in oak at just 10% new. Arnaud has also progressively reduced his use of sulphur over the years, making no additions during vinification or élevage, with only a small dose at bottling.
Wine Details
Producer: Arnaud Lambert (Château de Brézé)
Appellation: Saumur Rouge
Commune: Brézé
Lieux-Dits: L’Étoile
Soils: Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau chalk bedrock, with 50cm to 1m deep topsoils that are a iron-rich sand, and heavier clay with flint
Alcohol: 13.0%