Fabrice Esnault - La Giraudière

Fabrice Esnault
Fabrice Esnault
Fabrice Esnault

Photography and writing by Ted Vance.

Content coming soon…

Fabrice Esnault - La Giraudière - 2018 Saumur Champigny, Rouge, ‘Les Meuniers’

Price: $25.00
Size: 750ml
Availability: 

2 in stock

Type of Wine: Red
Grape(s): 100% Cabernet Franc
Style: Medium Body, Elegant and Aromatic

GROWER OVERVIEW

Third-generation winegrower Fabrice Esnault has more than 20 hectares in Saumur-Champigny’s municipalities of Montsoreau and Turquant, and Saumur’s most famous commune, Brézé. Devoid of all herbicides and pesticides and sustainably farmed, the vines average 35 years old, the oldest being about 75. The focus is on Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc, though he also grows Chardonnay, Grolleau Gris, and Grolleau Noir. Brézé vineyards are tuffeau limestone, clay and sand, and Saumur-Champigny has deeper clay topsoil on tuffeau bedrock. Selected local yeasts are employed when needed, and the whites are fermented and aged in fiberglass and old oak barrels without malolactic fermentation, filtered before bottling, and sometimes fined. Saumur-Champigny wines ferment for three weeks in fiberglass with gentle extractions at low temps (~20°C), followed by eight months in old barrels with light filtration or fining, if needed.

VINEYARD DETAILS

Giraudiére’s Saumur-Champigny “Les Meuniers” is 100% Cabernet Franc from vines planted in Montsoreau in 2001, at 72 meters of altitude on a gentle east-west facing slope. The topsoil is 30% limestone rock and 70% clay on limestone bedrock.

CELLAR NOTES

Giraudiére’s Saumur-Champigny “Les Meuniers” is destemmed and fermented for 15 days with pumpovers twice per day for the first 8 days and once every 2 days for the remaining 7 days, at a maximum of 21°C. It’s aged in large neutral vats and the first sulfites are added after vinification and again at bottling. The wine is filtered.

About The Wine

Vineyard Details

Giraudiére’s Saumur-Champigny “Les Meuniers” is 100% Cabernet Franc from vines planted in Montsoreau in 2001, at 72 meters of altitude on a gentle east-west facing slope. The topsoil is 30% limestone rock and 70% clay on limestone bedrock.

Cellar Details

Giraudiére’s Saumur-Champigny “Les Meuniers” is destemmed and fermented for 15 days with pumpovers twice per day for the first 8 days and once every 2 days for the remaining 7 days, at a maximum of 21°C. It’s aged in large neutral vats and the first sulfites are added after vinification and again at bottling. The wine is filtered.