Dom. Filliatreau Saumur-Champigny La Grande Vignolle 2003

The Domaine Filliatreau is the largest individual estate in Saumur-Champigny, about 50 hectares. It is run by Paul and Frédrik Filliatreau, père et fils (Mrs. Filliatreau mère, who is in her mid-eighties, is an everyday presence at the winery, in charge of tastings with visitors).The Filliatreau vineyards rest atop a tufa-stone outcropping that runs along the Loire River for a number of kilometers. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the stone, a creamy colored limestone, was quarried for building some of the great monuments and chateaux of the Loire. Cave dwellings and a few formidable houses were actually carved into the cliffs.

Naturally the soil and subsoil of the vineyards are highly calcareous. This type of soil lends the Cabernet Franc grapes juicy flavors and good acidity.

The vines are of considerable age and yields are kept low. The winery has been practicing organic viticulture since 1998, and also has a single plot vineyard (that goes into making Chateau Fouquet) that is being converted to biodynamic viticulture. The wine is vinified in stainless steel and bottled unfiltered.

Paul Filliatreau, who twenty years ago did much to put the AOC Saumur-Champigny on the map of great wines, has resolved to go back to "older ways" of tending vines and found the principles of bio-dynamie well-suited to this purpose.