Le Petit Saint-Vincent (Dominique Joseph), 2017 Saumur-Champigny ‘Les Clos Lyzières'
Cab Franc du Jour #131
Le Petit Saint Vincent is a humble domaine in Varrains run by fourth-generation vigneron Dominique Joseph, affectionately known as Pélo by family and friends. Pélo took over the domaine in 1990 and was instrumental in converting their vineyards to organic viticulture. The domaine comprises 13 hectares of vines, of which 12.7 hectares are Cabernet Franc and a small 0.3 hectare parcel is Chenin Blanc. Pélo’s range of Cabernet Francs includes a still rosé, a méthode ancestrale sparkling rosé, his early-drinking cuvée Pélo, his domaine wine, and two cuvées parcellaires from adjacent lieux-dits, Les Poyeux and Les Clos Lyzières, both in the commune of Chacé.
Southern Saumur-Champigny Terroir: A Look at Chacé, Varrains, and Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg
Chacé is one of three communes in the Saumur-Champigny appellation set back a few kilometres south of the Loire River, alongside Varrains and Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg. These three communes share broad similarities with the six communes that hug the riverbank, but a few distinctions are worth understanding.
The tuffeau plateau that runs along the Loire begins to slope gradually southward as you move away from the river. In the six riverside communes, vineyards are largely flat and, in some instances, carry more northerly exposures. In Varrains, Chacé, and Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg, by contrast, south-facing exposures are more common, which is favourable for ripening. These three communes also receive less of a moderating influence from the Loire itself, so budbreak tends to arrive a little earlier than in the riverside communes.
The soils across these three communes, with the exception of a handful of pockets in northern Varrains and a small corner of western Chacé, are dominated by the Middle Turonian tuffeau chalk, a glauconitic-micaceous chalk known locally as craie verte. Along the plateau closer to the Loire, by comparison, there is considerably more soil diversity, ranging from Upper and Middle Turonian tuffeaux to Senonian-age sands and clays with flint, and pockets of Eocene-age lacustrine limestone at higher elevations. Topsoils across the three southern communes also tend to be shallower than those found along the riverbank, reinforcing the tuffeau’s influence. The texture leans toward a silt-sand-clay mix with around 25% clay content, somewhat lower in clay than the more clay-rich and sandier soils found closer to the Loire. That combination of shallow topsoil and lower clay content tends to produce wines that are a touch more linear on the palate, with perhaps a little less of the power and roundness associated with clay-dominant sites.
The Commune of Chacé
Within Chacé, there are two main vineyard areas. A small zone on the west side of the villages of Chacé and Varrains contains a very limited area of ancient alluvium from the Thouet River alongside some tuffeau-influenced soils. The larger and more significant area lies to the east of the villages, where Les Clos Lyzières and its neighbouring lieux-dits are found, dominated by tuffeau-derived soils. Both the Upper and Middle Turonian tuffeau are present in Chacé, though the majority of vineyards sit on the Middle Turonian chalk.
Les Clos Lyzières
Les Clos Lyzières is a roughly 9.5-hectare lieu-dit located on the south side of the D205 road along the eastern border of the commune. It shares its western boundary with Les Bas Poyeux, and the heart of the celebrated lieu-dit Les Poyeux sits directly above and to the west. The lieu-dit occupies a gentle south-facing slope, dropping from around 56m above sea level at the top to about 40m at the base.
Le Petit Saint Vincent holds approximately 1.8 hectares of 55-year-old vines in the eastern part of the lieu-dit. Despite being only about 600m from the domaine’s parcels at Les Poyeux, the terroirs could hardly be more different, and the resulting wines reflect that contrast clearly. In Les Clos Lyzières, Pélo’s parcels have a relatively shallow topsoil of around 40 to 50cm with a clay silt-loam texture, carrying a higher proportion of clay, over the Middle Turonian craie verte below. At Les Poyeux, where the domaine holds 0.8ha in parcels almost adjacent to those of Clos Rougeard, the profile shifts dramatically: approximately 1.5m of predominantly sandy topsoil sits atop a bedrock of Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau chalk.
In the Cellar
Yields at Les Clos Lyzières are on the lower side, around 25 to 30 hl/ha. The fruit is hand-harvested and fully destemmed before fermenting in concrete with indigenous yeast. Skin maceration runs approximately 20 to 25 days, with light pump-overs during the first few days to homogenise the must, followed by maceration through infusion for the remainder of the post-fermentation period. Aging also takes place in concrete for around 12 months.
The approach for Les Poyeux is identical through fermentation, with one distinction: the Les Poyeux is aged in neutral barrels for approximately 12 months rather than concrete.
Wine Details
Producer: Le Petit Saint-Vincent (Dominique Joseph)
Appellation: Saumur-Champigny
Commune: Chacé
Lieux-Dits: Les Clos Lyzières
Soils: 40-50 clay-silt loam, over the Middle Turonian tuffeau chalk (craie verte)
Alcohol: 13.0%