Château Yvonne - Saumur-Champigny La Folie 2023

100% Cabernet Franc

Biodynamic, Certified Organic (ECOCERT), Unfined, Unfiltered, Vegan

Saumur-Champigny, Loire Valley, France

From the importer-

La Folie comes from plots in the village of Champigny itself with vines ranging from 15-50 years in age. Clay and limestone soils. Hand-harvested. Native yeast fermentation with no additions in 50 hl concrete vats for 4 weeks. Aged for 12 months in half 38 hl foudre and half in 4-5 year old barriques. Bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal sulfur.

Located in Parnay, Chateau Yvonne has been surrounded by vineyards since the middle ages, when the monks at the Abbaye de Fontevraud brought their influence to the region. The Chateau dates to the 16th century, but not much is known until 1813, when a local winemaker moved in and began producing wine on site. In 1997, Yvonne and Jean-François Lamunière decided to recreate the abandoned vineyard with the help of Françoise Foucault. In 2007, Matthieu Vallée took over and decided to keep the name Chateau Yvonne in hommage to the incredible work done by the previous owners. Today the domaine is one of the best producers in Saumur, composed of 3 hectares of Chenin Blanc and 8 hectares of Cabernet Franc, spread out over 28 small plots in three villages.  The vineyards have been farmed organically (Ecocert certified) since 1997 and biodynamically since 2012.  Yvonne’s production remains extremely low, averaging only 2000 cs annually.  All vineyard work here is done manually, and Matthieu makes the wines with as little manipulation as possible: native yeast fermentation, no additions other than SO2, slow malolactic fermentation, minimal racking, and bottling unfined and unfiltered.  The dominant soils here are limestone and tuffeau stone but outcroppings of gravel and sandy clay give completely different expressions of Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc.