Vouvray Moustillante “La Dilettante”:

No SO2. Natural pétillant using the traditional style of Vouvray. Wine is aged in barrel prior to bottling.

Vouvray Pétillant “La Dilettante” Méthode Traditionnelle :        

This is a sparkling Vouvray, released as a non-vintage wine. It is made using the traditional method (Champagne method, i.e.: induced secondary fermentation in bottle, aging, disgorgement and dosage). It is made using minimal sulfur and has a lively bead and very pure, zesty Chenin Blanc flavors. Domaine disgorges bottles once a year. For wine produced during the 2009 vintage, wine was bottled in July 2010 and bottles were disgorged in January of 2012. There are 8 grams of residual sugar and less than 1 gram used in dosage for the 2009 vintage (the actual amount is kept a secret). For wine produced during the 2010 vintage, wine was bottled in June 2011 and bottles will be disgorged in December 2012 or January of 2013. Wine is raised for a minimum of 12 months before bottling and a minimum of 11 months after.

Vouvray “La Dilettante” Sec:                       

While Catherine and Pierre work together in the vines and the cellar for all the Breton wines, the Vouvrays are Catherine’s pet project (along with the Bourgueil Dilettante below).  The wine comes from 50-year old Chenin Blanc vines planted in flinty soil.  A very gentle pressing is followed by a short vinification in stainless steel.  There is no maloactic fermentation and the wine is bottled in the spring following harvest.  Made for immediate consumption. 

Rosé d’Anjou “La Ritournelle” Moustillant:

Pierre Breton's idea is to make a rosé that approaches the pinnacle of naturalness. It is cold fermented to about 1.5% residual sugar. It is then racked and further chilled to stop the fermentation. It is bottled with approximately 0.5 atmospheres of pressure. There is only a very small addition of sulfur-dioxide just before bottling, so the wine has wonderful purity.

Bourgueil “La Dilettante”:

Dilettante “Dabbler” is a project started by Pierre’s wife, Catherine Breton.  Similar to the Trinch but vinified using whole cluster, carbonic maceration without sulfur.  Another wine meant for immediate consumption, low alcohol, low-sulfur, pure Cabernet Franc.  Aged in cement “eggs” and bottled unfiltered in the Spring after harvest.

Bourgueil “Avis de Vin Fort” :               

Avis de Vin Fort “Strong Wine Warning” (an old sailor expression meaning a storm was coming and it was time to go to port and drink strong wine) is a sarcastic name for this very light wine made starting with the 2006 vintage.  It is the domaine’s answer to rosé, since they didn’t want to make a rosé wine at the time.  It is juice bled off of the Trinch cuvée after a short maceration, giving it more color than a rosé.  100% Cabernet Franc.  For early drinking, best served slightly cool.  Bottled in the Spring after harvest.

Bourgueil “Avis de Vin Fort Clairet” :                

First made in 2009. Bled off after a little shorter maceration. Lighter in color than the regular “Avis de Vin Fort” but still dark for a rosé. Great to drink as a winter rosé.

Bourgueil “Nuits d’Ivresse”: 

Nuits d’Ivresse “Drunken Nights” is the name of a special cuvée of selected old vines from top clay and limestone sites in Bourgueil.  The wine is vinified in barriques and kept in wood for a year then bottled the following December a little over a year after harvest.  This wine is an homage to the methods of Jules Chauvet and does not see a drop of sulfur throughout its lifetime (harvest, vinification, bottling).  Therefore it must be drunk quickly or stored in the dark at a proper temperature (14°C or less).

Bourgueil “Trinch”: 

“Trinch” is named after a German expression meaning “cheers” championed by the poet and philosopher Rabelais.  Trinch is a Cabernet Franc from younger vines vinified in stainless steel with a cold maceration.  It is made for early consumption and typically has very accessible fruit, soft tannins and low alcohol.  Bottled in the Spring after harvest.

Bourgueil Les Galichets:    

Galichets is the name of the gravelly terroir on the land surrounding the Breton winery in Restigné, in a reputed plateau at 50 meters altitude situated in between the flat land and the slope.  The vines are old, and the vinification is more traditional.  The wine is bottled after a year in stainless steel, unfiltered, in the early Fall before harvest.  Style emphasizes lively fruit and is made to drink young.   

Bourgueil “Franc de Pied”:                   

This is a bottling done from the Breton’s one parcel of un-grafted Cabernet Franc vines, near the parcel of Galichets.  They remain in good health.  The vinification and the style is the same as for Galichets.

Bourgueil Clos Sénéchal:                

Clos Sénéchal is one of the top two red Bourgueil wines produced by the Bretons.  It is from a parcel on the hillside above the plateau of Galichets, where clay and limestone soil sits atop the famed tuffeau of the Loire, the chalky white limestone quarried to build many of the famed châteaux of the region.  Sénéchal is macerated in open wood vats and fermented and aged in wooden foudres.  It is bottled without fining or filtration after 18 months of aging.   

Bourgueil Les Perrières:    

This is the Breton’s greatest red, from one of the most prized hillside parcels in Bourgueil.  The terroir is siliceous clay and limestone, and old vines give very low yields of 20 hectoliters/hectare on average.  The maceration is done in open wood vats and the fermentation and élevage is done in 550-L barriques, a variable percentage of which are new.  The wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered after two full years in wood. 

Chinon Beaumont:                              

This Chinon is in the same category as the Bourgueil Galichets above, in terms of release date and drinking window.  It is made from several parcels on clay and limestone hillside soils.  The vinification and élevage takes place in wooden vats and barriques.  It is bottled unfined and unfiltered after one year in wood, in the early Fall before harvest.  A wine destined for early drinking.

Chinon St Louans :       

This is the Breton’s top cuvée of Chinon, from an outstanding clay and limestone hillside parcel.  It is a wine to age, as opposed to the Beaumont above. The St Louans is macerated in open, wood vats and fermented and aged in 550-L barriques for two years before being bottled unfiltered and unfined.  This is a big, structured Chinon, very long lived.