2022 Etienne Bodet Clos Durandière Saumur Rouge
Saumur rarely gets talked about alongside the Côte de Nuits, but this clos sits on the same Jurassic limestone, one of only about twenty hectares in the appellation that does. The vineyard is enclosed by the wall of the Château de la Durandière, which belongs to Etienne Bodet's family, and by the neighbouring forest. Cabernet Franc planted in 1983, over shallow topsoils of thirty to sixty centimetres of clayey sand or sandy loam with iron oxide. Early ripening, free draining, low in vigour. What he wants from it is ethereal rather than impressive.
Which explains the cellar. Organic with biodynamic practices, Guyot-Poussard pruning, yields held at or below 40hl/ha. Ambient yeasts, up to thirty-five per cent whole cluster, and no punch-downs or pump-overs at all. A minimum of two years in used barrels of one to three wines, so no new oak anywhere near it, then six months in vat and six in bottle. Sulphur goes in once, after ageing, under 20ppm total. It is a lot of restraint for a wine that ends up weighing almost nothing.
