Domaine des Sables Verts Saumur-Champigny 2024
Domaine des Sables Verts Saumur-Champigny
Region: Loire, France
Vintage: 2024
Bottle size: 75cl
Grape: Cabernet Franc
ABV: 12.5%
A delicious Saumur-Champigny, brimming with aromas of juicy raspberry, blackcurrant and redcurrant fruit with a subtle mineral edge. Wonderfully refreshing on the palate, with velvety tannins and a vibrant acidity which carries the bright fruit flavours onto the lingering finish.
The Domaine des Sables Verts vineyards, located in the heart of the Saumur-Champigny appellation, cover 16 hectares, 15 of which are planted with Cabernet Franc. The Saumur-Champigny blends fruit from four different Cabernet Franc plots from across the estate. The vines are on average 40-years old and planted on deep clay-limestone soils that are rich in tuffeau and green sand known as 'sables verts'. The vineyards are farmed following organic principles and the grapes are all hand harvested.
Upon arrival at the winery, the hand-harvested grapes were and transferred into vats by gravity, where they underwent a short maceration on skins for three days to extract colour and aromatics. Fermentation took place using indigenous yeasts at controlled temperatures in stainless-steel tanks. Unoaked, Caroline and Hervé choose to age their Saumur Champigny in stainless steel in order to retain its crunchy fruit character and freshness. After five months in tank, the wine was bottled without fining.
Caroline Meurée and Hervé Malinge are a young winemaking couple who met while studying in Bordeaux. Despite neither being from the Loire Valley, in 2019, they bought Domaine des Sables Verts in the heart of Saumur-Champigny and embarked on their first vintage. Domaine des Sables Verts comprises 16 hectares of organically farmed vineyards, spread across Varrains, Chacé, Saumur, Souzay-Champigny and Parnay. 15 hectares are planted with Cabernet Franc and just one with Chenin Blanc. These vineyards sit on deep, clay-limestone soils, rich in tuffeau and a green sand known as ‘sables verts’. It was this soil type that inspired the domaine’s name.