Francueil, Loire
The Domaine de Cambalu is a second-generation winery now managed by Julien Moreau and his brother Frédéric. The two brothers were born here and took over the domaine from their parents, who in their time were selling all their grapes to the local coopérative. The name of the domaine stands for the lieu-dit where the farm sits, 2,5 kilometers west of the
village of Francueil and maybe only 1 km as the crow flies
from the Chateau de Chenonceaux along the Cher river. actually the grand parents on both sides also had vines and made a bit of wine, but like most farms at that time, grapes were accessory for the family consumption, along the other, mainstay crops and farm animals. Selling grapes to the coop was mainstream in many French wine regions, and well into the 1970s and 1980s, then that's when bottling became accessible for family wineries. Here, Julien's parents kept selling their grapes to the coop by convenience, and when the two brothers took over, they changed course, quitting the coop and starting right away to farm organic.
The main reason they stopped selling to the coop when they took over the domaine is that the coopérative didn't make a distinction between the quality of grapes they were buying, vinifying the whole mass of grapes together, the conventional, the organic, the culture raisonnée. His parents before 2016 were farming in culture raisonnée, that is without herbicides, his father would plow and prune relatively short, with yields that weren't excessive, and his work in the vineyard wasn't valued as it should have.
Actually their great grandfather (on the mother side) who is pictured here carrying canes in the vineyard, was one of the founders of the local coop, back at a time every grower was working hard the soil. The two brothers say that at that time cameras weren't that common among the local people and also, the daily work in the vineyard wasn't glamorous at all, back then they certainly wouldn't have thought that such pictures would have been an inrterest for anybody in the future, that makes this picture priceless... The picture has as you can see been used as an inspiration for the label of a cuvée. Julien and Frédéric had time to know this great grandfather as he passed away as they were respectively 17 and 20, he was a nice person, and they also inherited 2 small parcels that belonged to him.
By luck they also have this picture of another great grandfather (also on the mother side), appropriately standing (with his wife I presume) in front of his cellars with a draft horse. Julien told me later that by the way his father was the last one in his own generation to keep working with a horse, that was well into the 1980s, actually until around 1988. In spite of the fact he was selling his grapes to the coop, he was a good grower taking care of his vineyard, if he had not made the choice to vinify himself that was because such a move would have needed more financial resources, in addition to the ones devoted to the farming.
In 2016 they took the wheel of the family domaine with 20 hectares, and now they work on 17 hectares, having slightly downsized the surface. They may still shrink a bit more the surface, possibly down to 15 hectares so that they can farm it well. On their first year in 2016 they suffered a catastrophic 80 % frost, and so they got a small volume of grapes. Asked if this region is gélive (prone to frost), Julien says that back in his parents' time they got only twice, in 1991 and 2014, so the recent years may be a new trend in the local climate. And for the narrow span of time since they're in charge, they got fros in 2016, 2017 and 2020.
Here they pose in front of their farming tools and tractors, including this British-made Ferguson "Petit Gris" (500 000 of which were made between 1946 and 1956), which they bought for the parts, as they're rebuilding another of the same type in the barn in the background. this tractor is known in the U.K. under the nickname Little Grey Fergie (you can see here more pictures of this iconic model).
They also downsize because as they begin making wine themselves, they need to devote time to meet clients and do the commercial thing. Here I spotted this walk plows near the petit Gris and asked about their use, and Julien says that they're indeed working with draft horses again, his wife has gone through a trainoing in that trade, and of course his father who keeps helping has a long experience with handling draft horses. Julien's mother also helps, and otherwise they use contracted teams to help for pruning and other tasks, including harvest, as everything is now picked by hand.
When they began in 2016 they quit the coop but didn't make wine themselves right away, they started to farm organic immediately and sold their grapes to several winemakers of the area, all known by readers here. As for the official conversion, they only started it in 2018 because initially they didn't feel the need to have an official certification : they from the start (2016) farmed organic, took care of the land and vines, and this seemed sufficient for them (and they will probably not boast about it on their own labels). Later and for more clarity they decided to follow the regular certification process (Ecocert). the reason they waited until 2018 to make wine themselves was that they needed first to get money from the grape sales in order to finance the winemaking tools and chai.
The parcels of the domaine are all around the farm, which is very convenient and allows a rapid response, no need to even drive the tractor along a paved road. The first winemaker they sold their grapes to were Noëlla Morantin, further north in the Vendömois to Ariane Lesné (Domaine de Montrieux), then Laurent Saillard, also Marie Rocher and in Vouvray Anne-Cécile Jadaud & Tanguy Perrault. They all remained loyal buyers since the start of the sales in 2018, they even had other people asking for grapes but they need to keep enough for themselves, for their own nascing production. In 2018 they made 100 hectoliters, the following year 125 ho and in 2020 150 hectoliters.
The good thing of having that many tractors is that each of them can be fitted with its proper tool and ready to work without delay, switching from spray to plowing or mowing sometimes takes time, and you can have several workers doing several things at the same time.
Asked where he learned the trade of winemaking, Julien says he went at the wine school of Beaune for a Bac Pro [Bac Professionnel] and went no further. Otherwise he learned through passion for this trade, through exchanges with other vignerons and winemakers. He worked 14 years in Vouvray at Domaine Champalou where he was head viticulturist, he also helped in the cellar occasionally but their work philosophy wasn't his, on the winemaking part. He also tasted a lot in wine fairs, like the Salon de Villebarou [possibly the earliest artisan wine fair in France], discussing with winemakers. He also visited other events, like Les Vins du Coin, or Biotyfoule and others. When he was working in Vouvray he befriended Anne-Cécile Jadaud and Tanguy Perrault and this helped him a lot also, Anne-Cécile had offered to help if needed for the first vintage but it went so smoothly, the fermentation and everything that he didn't need to ask. She visited afterwards, tasted and nodded that everything was fine and the wine on its tracks, nothing to change.
The only cuvée that was sluggish was a pet-nat of Chenin in 2019 that stopped fermenting at some point and which is still in bottles sur lattes at this stage. He thinks that's because it was a drought year on young vines, the juice had a nitrogen efficiency in the must and because of that the yeast hadn't enough to eat. So the pet-nat is quite sweet and with very little bubbling, just perly. Otherwise he keeps his wines a long time before bottling for stability purposes, he never bottles the following spring for example. All the 2020 will be bottled end of 2021, including his rosé. He also conducts air tests for his wines, filling a jug and leaving it on a table to see how the wines stands air exposure [And he didn't say it right away but he actually routinely bottles without any added sulfites]. He says on the whole that when you get beautiful grapes, and picked by hand, that's much more easy to make nice wines thereafter, and apart from frost and grillure the grapes were healthy for the few vintages they made.
As their parents didn't make wine, they had no chai, so they converted the tractor barn into a chai, built an open barn to store the tractors and collected the tools, press and fermenters, all of which are easily found in the area by word of mouth or when a vingneron retires. The facility has not the charm of deep cellars under a hill but the wine faired well nonetheless. Julien says he still recently bought such old cellars in Faverolles-sur-Cher right near the ones of Mikaël Bouges and Les Capriades, but he'll use them for storage purposes, not winemaking, and possibly for a tasting event along the two other cellars. He still has so repairs to do in there but the two tunnel galleries are very healthy.
Here the press, a 32-hectoliter Vaslin, he's very happy with it, it's non pneumatic, you can use the programs or work fully manual. They took away the chains because they crush the must and the grapes. He says they don't look for extraction and this press is doing a good job. He bought this 1989 press near Chinon in 2018 just before their first vintage, it was in super good condition, well maintained.
Here they work only with whole-clustered grapes, with carbonic maceration, although it's not the rule, his Pinot Noir and Grolleau gets for example pumping over during a 10 day maceration, after stomping a bit the whole-clustered grapes in the bottom of the fermenter (the rest of the grapes poured into the tank being kept untouched). For the whites and the rosé he also uses whole bunches with a direct press of the whole. They pick very early in the morning to avoid the heat of the day, and the chai & press being so close from the parcels, there's no risk then to have the grapes heat up on the transfer to the facility. Many pickers sleep around the farm, either in their trucks or in tents, and those who live in the nearby villages go home.
they also found the tanks second-hand, he chose only ones with floating lids, which he says are very practical. The barrels here are from one to 3 or 4 years old, the oldest being from 2016
We took Julien's car on the grass roads to tour a few parcels around the farm. they farm 8 different varieties, with two whites, Chenin (2,5 hectares) and Sauvignon (65 ares), and thus a majority of reds with a large surface of Gamay (6+ hectares, all the grapes being sold to other winemakers), plus Pinot Noir, Côt, Grolleau (his 2020 is a red) and Pineau d'Aunis (1,6 hectare, of which 1 hectare aged 40 and 0,6 ha replanted, quite a good surface overall for a now-rare variety) with which he makes a rosé and a red. Speaking about the Chenin he has a 100-year-old parcel and he plans to plant more of this variety which he loves. He vinifies the Grolleau by itself, no blend and he likes it because it's easy to drink with 11,5 % alcohol, picking when the grapes are ripe, no later, and tasting repeatedly the grapes, looking the seeds color and so on. And he vinifies whole-clustered and takesz care to have stems that are ripe as well. The only time he destemmed was for a skin-contact Sauvignon he did in 2020.
On the way to a parcel we stopped near aloge de vigne (vineyard shack) which they recently restored. These small buildings can be found here and there in the region,
some like this one have a fireplace, this one even has a small cellar (the stairs are
outside on the other side). Many were built between 1850 and 1900, and at a time when day laborers had no vehicule of their own, not even a bicycle, they would spend a few days for a given job, resting in these buildings, warming up with the fireplace in winter when pruning and so on. They're not used any more and some of them are in disrepair, that's a good thing they took on their own to maintain them.
There's even an olmd vine of Chasselas, it was not that long ago running all around the small building, with the long end of the branch reaching the left of the door, but it was cut short by unknown vandals. Whe went down to the cellar, it's pretty incredible, I wonder if they kind of stored some wine in there for the hard work days....
The first parcel we stopped at (passing many on the way) was the old Block of Aunis, which I was eager to see. You can see the facility in the background, it's indeed not far, we could have walked if the weather hadn't been so hot that day. The vines are 40 years old. On this side of the parcel the frost was not that bad because of the higher altitude, 2/3 of the Aunis, thanks to this upper slope didn't suffer too much, but lower on the slope they lost much, Julien says that since the frost, green leaves and buds grew back there but it's still dramatic, with many vines without bunches. And overall you can see that the foliage size and growth is small and late compared to what it should be, at almost mid june, that's because the ground and the weather remain cold even in spring. Speaking of Pineau d'Aunis he says that picking this fruit is very enjoyable, the bunches are generous and the pickers love picking Aunis or also Grolleau.
Asked about how it is to farm Pineau d'Aunis, Julien says the variety is quite disease resistant, in particular for mildew, which is already a good thing, he remembers the mildew attack of 2018 which had every grower of the region worry for a rescue, and while they themselves lost much volume on some of the other varieties, the Aunis was the one which went through pretty well and in 2018 his yields of Aunis were very nice (even though they prune them short).
otherwise for the rest, they have a simple soil management, they always keep the grass between the rows, they just mowe now and then, while under the vines they pass with a plow after the harvest, making a butte, and in spring they use either a décavailloneuse or an intercep (types of blades) to pull the moved earth back on place, it depends of the remaining weeds and the need or not to keep them in check with the appropriate tool. But overall they only plow under/near the vines so that it doesn't affect them.
Asked if they cut the apex at some point, he says yes, it teds to raise more than what we see now, and after blossoming they cut them, and he says the flower should come imminently in less than a week certainly.
At that point this large military propeller plane (an Airbus A400M) passed over us, possibly on its way to Bricy base near Orléans after a mission in the Sahel region, I managed to catch it, love these huge propeller planes, they look like big beetles... While we were watching the big bird fly away, Julien told me about the Chateau de Chenonceaux being at a mere one kilometer from here as the crow flies, and he says that in a remote past, this land here was the property of the Chateau, with I guess all the farming feeding the many people there. This Google maps page hasn't a "as the crow flies" choice, but you can see how close the Chateau is indeed.
Driving further on grass lanes, we stopped at their other loge de vigne which they also restored and took care of, and Julien's father Alain Moreau happened to walk by himself, on his way to check the growth of the vineyard. This loge is more simple, no fireplace, no cellar, but also an old vine that gave sweet moments to day laborers, the variety is Gouais, very little-known indeed. It is already blossoming, probably thanks to the fact it grows along a wall. The woods behind can hide roe deers, rabbits and hares which prey on the grapes at the season. Alain Moreau says that this wooded plot behind the loge was a vineyard not that long ago, he remembers it from when he was young.
We then reach the very old Chenin, this is the oldest parcel of the domaine, about 100 years old (see also picture on top, Julien kneeling behing one of these grandpas). Julien's wife Anne-Sophie joined us while we were looking at these venerable elders. You may remember her, she was among the trainees learning tha art of working with workhorses (see story here) under the guidance of Philippe Chigard. Julien says that the next step here is take away the weeds under the vines.
On this picture above you can see how through multiple marcottages the vines have been reproduced in order to replace the missing ones, the Chenin suffers also from Esca, even the old vines. Julien says he also does marcottage when needed. In some places here you se the old vine giving birth to a marcotte, which itsels leads to another marcotte, then another, it's pretty rare to see a single vine sometimes feeding a lifeline to a string of successive marcottes.
We look at the young bunches of Chenin, very nice and with this particular shape, split in several sub bunches facing alternating sides. Julien says that in spite of its age (100 years, that is pretty old !) the vines are productive. Originally they were trained on Guyot, and there has been several owners along the decades, each possibly using a pruning mode of his own.
On our way back to the facility, we stopped en route to see their draft horses, who were enjoying the shade of their stable. Because there are so many flies in this hot weather, they had fitted them with these very useful accessories, fly masks, they say they really see the horses appreciate them, and they can see through. This one is a HKM Protection, the good thing is there's a hoop at the eyes level so that the horse doesn't feel restrained. They take them out for
the night when the fly pressure falls. the use of these workhorses is made easier with the previous training of Anne-Sophie withy Philippe Chigard, and by the fact that Julien's father himself used such horses in the vineyard until 1988. The light brown horse is a young mare (4 years, which is young for a draft horse) named Victoire, she is a Comtoise. The speckled gray one is older at 7, it is also a mare, named Etoile, and it is a Percheronne. Superb animals. I notice they don't have horseshoes, Julien say they used to have some because they used to make carriage rides on paved roads in their former life, but now as they don't walk on paved road they took them out and the horses feel much better without.
Right in the paddock there are these wood posts made of acacia (picture on left), Julien says that they make their own posts when they need to replace posts, and these one made from acacia cut on the property last much longer than the ones sold on the market (which are straighter but made of ordinary wood that rots more rapidly). Julien says that such posts planted by his father more than 40 years ago are still standing solidly in place, so it's worth the effort to look for acacias in their woods, cut them, leave them to dry, sharpen the ends and so on.
Asked about the work to take care of these two horses, Julien says yes, it's a lot of things to do, they pick up the dung in the paddock every morning so that there's lmess flies around and also so that the grass eventually can grow back. Happily they usually stand in the same area and the dung is kind of easily located. And they use later (in autumn) this dung for his brother's the vegetable garden. Then you have to brush the horses, clean the clean the hooves, check there's no stone stuck under that could harm the horse, but it's aroutine, and there's a blacksmith who come regularly to check them.
I taste first the Pineau d'Aunis rosé 2019 (they also make a red of this variety), a Vin de France (they label everything in vin de France), a direct press of whole-clustered bunches (still has color). The wine, tasted here at room temperature is fresh, generous with richness feel (it's a solar year, that's why, Julien says) and harmony. Easy to drink with a fruity side, but not with the typical spicy side of Aunis, because of the direct press and no maceration. And only 11,5 % in alcohol ! Zero added SO2 here (he added a bit for the 2018). I tell Julien that he could communicate about this on the label, with something like "no added sulfites".
They found their clients by word of mouth, and selling was not that difficult as they still vinify/bottle small volumes. The domaine doesn't export yet, I think that with the pandemic travel ban lifted, this could change soon.
Now, Chenin : au bout du Chenin [a play of words with "au bout du chemin" which means "at the end of the road"] Touraine Chenin 2018. This is the only year they asked for tha Appellation Touraine, they'll keep now with the table-wine status of Vin de France because there's too much administrative hurdles with the Appelation, and also Aunis is barred from the Touraine Appellation which he finds absurd, so since 2019 he bottles everything in VdF. Ginving that in addition you have to pay for all that, he doesn't see the positive side, especially that his buyers know how he works in both the vineyard and the cellar.
Nice mouth, if with an oaky side. Malolactic partly done (he doesn't intervene on malolactic, the wine decides). 15 months in barrels. 13,5 % alc (hot year). 2 grams SO2 at bottling here. The grapes come from both young and old vines here. He still vinifies separately but blends the whole at the end. 2nd sip : vividness side, which could come from the uncompleted malolactic, this helped for this hot vintage. Dry, only 2 gr residual sugar.
__ Au Bout du Chenin 2019, same cuvée but a year younger, here no malolactic. 12 months in barrel. Very different style of wine, vividness with acidulous side, nice energy. Zero SO2 here. Sugar finished (remains 0,5 g). Love this one !
__ Chichic, Vin de France, Pineau d'Aunis 2018, vinified in red as you can see. A cuvée of 80 hectoliters (he still has some to sell). 11,8 % alc. 2 grams/hectoliter SO2, now part of it has vanished, the wine has 25 mg total in free SO2 now. Delicate mouth with aromas of rose petals, love it !. We again taste at room temperature on a hot day, but still, the wine is very enjoyable. Plus, Julien says that the bottle was opened a few days ago, it stands really well the air test. He says perople love it as well. 2nd sip is even better.
__ Black Cherry, Vin de France, Pinot Noir 2019. Elevage 100 % in barrels (aged from 2 to 4 years). 13 % alc. Zero SO2 added. Made 30 hectoliter of it, picked on a one-hectare surface. Sold out. Nice fruit, balanced. Julien says that it's still too young to drink, now it'd be time to drink the 2018 and the 2019 should still wait a bit. He hopes his buyers did the further aging in bottles. that's all for the wine to taste, and they'll get later a Grolleau (vinified in red), a skin-contact Sauvignon and a pet-nat Gamay which is still sur lattes. He says that for now he's happy with having tis limited number of cuvées, he prefers to concentrate his work on these than add more cuvées. I still hope he'll initiate a cuvée of Gamay one day (apart from the petnat), keeping a small volume for himself on his 6 hectares of the variety. Right now he vinfies one third of the total surface of the domaine (presently 15 hectares), which gives them ample margin to raise the wine production in the future. same for the Côt (1 hectare), which he sells to Noëlla and Anne-Cécile, he may one day vinify some, and it will be certainly be well received.
When I left, I rode the motorbike down the small road, maybe 800 meters, straight to the Cher river and that's what I could see on the right : this unique Chateau de Chenonceaux that spans the river.
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