Winemaker Notes
Paul Filliatreau bought 6.5 hectares of lieu-dit Château Fouquet in the village of Brézé, which is about 10 kilometers east of the town Saumur and just outside the lines of the Saumur-Champigny appellation. Parts of the vineyard had been abandoned, and he began replanting with massale cuttings from Chinon vigneron Charles Joguet's Clos du Chêne Vert vineyard. By 1998, the vineyard had been converted it to organic farming, the first part of the Filliatreau estate to beome so (as well as the first to be ploughed by horse or harvested by hand).
Cabernet Franc, a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, is the subtler and more delicate of the Cabernets. Today Cabernet Franc produces outstanding single varietal wines across the wine-producing world. Somm Secret—One of California's best-kept secrets is the Happy Canyon appellation of Santa Barbara. Here Cabernet Franc shines as a single varietal wine or in blends, expressing sumptuous fruit, savory aromas and polished tannins.
Marked by great châteaux built with the same tuffeau limestone that is also responsible for the excavation of so many of the famed Loire caves, Saumur is famous for its Chenin blanc based sparkling wines. Inside the Saumur region, Saumur-Champigny creates some of the Loire’s greatest Cabernet Francs.