Saumur Champigny Clos Cristal Les Epistolaires 2020

Grape variety Cabernet franc

Soil The Clos Cristal terroir is composed of tuffeau chalk bedrock dating back to the Cretaceous era. In terms of soils, we move progressively from one terroir to another, from sandy to clay-limestone soils, which allow for great complexity in the wine's structure, balance and aromatics. This complexity is reinforced by the vines that grow along and through the walls, producing grapes with very particular characteristics and a very high level of ripeness. Finally, all these terroirs are surrounded by walls and protected from northerly winds by a wood, providing us with a very specific microclimate found only at Clos Cristal.

Vinification Plot-by-plot selection of low-yield organic vines. Daily berry tasting to determine harvest date. The grapes are harvested by hand by teams of pickers who carry out an initial sorting in the vineyard. The grapes are picked as whole bunches and transported to the winery in crates to avoid compacting the bunches and preserve quality. At the winery, the grapes are carefully placed on a sorting table before being vatted by gravity. Vinification is carried out without the addition of sulfur, and a delicate extraction is carried out with a few pump-overs at the start of maceration, followed by infusion.

After alcoholic and malolactic fermentation, the grapes are devatted and pressed using a small vertical press. Some of the grapes are put into barrels, while others are matured in vats. Aging lasts a year, after which the wine is bottled without fining or filtering. The bottles are kept for 2 years in underground tufa galleries, protected from light and at 12°C all year round. The constant humidity in these galleries provides ideal conditions for maturing this wine.