Etienne Bodet 'Clos Durandiere' Cabernet Franc, Saumur, Loire Valley, France 2020

• Winemaker: Etienne Bodet
  
• Farming: Biodynamic
  
• Variety: Cabernet Franc
  
• Terroir: This clos is surrounded by the wall of the Château de la Durandière, belonging to Etienne's family, and the neighboring forest. The vineyard is among only 20ha in Saumur with a hard Bathonian limestone bedrock from the Jurassic period, as opposed to the more typical tuffeau. The shallow topsoils (30 to 60cm) are composed of clayey sand or sandy loam with iron oxide. The vineyard is early-ripening and well-draining, with limited vigor and active limestone, and Etienne's goal here is to obtain the most ethereal and elegant wine possible.
  
• Vinification: Ambient yeast fermentation with no added SO2, partial whole cluster inclusion (up to 35%), no punch-downs or pump-overs.
• Aging: La Durandière is aged for two years in barrels, with 5% new oak in 2020 and the remainder coming from the used barrels of the Le Bourg cuvée from Clos Rougeard. Afterward, it spends an additional six months aging in vats, followed by another six months in the bottle before it is released. SO2 20ppm at bottling.
  
• Tasting Note: Incredibly Classic, with dense, just-ripe red cherries, cranberry, and light black currant bud, bay laurel. Silky tannins, long finish.
  

Importer's Notes: Etienne started as micro-négoce with a first bottling of crémant Physis 2017. In 2015, Etienne was gifted 1.4 ha (3.46 ac) of Cabernet Franc in "Clos Durandière" as a wedding present.

Etienne Bodet is a native of the Saumur region, where his family owns a domaine in Montreuil-Bellay. He trained with Sylvain Pataille, Aurélien Gerbais, Bernard Baudry, François Dal, Romain Guiberteau (who is also his stepfather), and he is currently one of the winemakers at Clos Rougeard.

In parallel to Maison Bodet-Herold, the sparkling wine project he founded with his wife Kim Herold, Etienne took over the 1.3 ha Clos Durandière from his family, with Cabernet Franc planted on some of the only hard Jurassic limestone found in the Saumur appellation that otherwise lies almost entirely on the soft Cretaceous limestone known as tuffeau.

His first release, 2020, is extraordinarily compelling. The gorgeous nose mixes potpourri, banana bread, the lavender and noble vegetal of whole clusters, and a cornucopia of other things, mostly savory. The fluid yet geometric palate is driven by bright acidity, powdery, fine-grained tannins, and the mineral cut of his terroir’s hard limestone.