We're pleased to be able to release the next edition of Corentin Le Bolloch's Bibelot, this time from 2020, a wonderfully supple Cab Franc from a small parcel that's become part of UTB-lore, with the vines originally farmed by Sebastien Fleuret before he offered the plot to Corentin.
Back In 2015, Corentin Le Bolloch left his home in Brittany for the summer, to help a friend with harvest in Anjou. Summer rolled into autumn, and Corentin never left. He set up shop as a freelance viticulture assistant to keep himself in work over the winters whilst on the hunt for vines of his own.
Among the winemakers Corentin assisted in the vines was Seb Fleuret; who reached out in 2018 for help tending to a single-hectare parcel of old Cab Franc & Chenin in Beaulieu sur Layon (Seb's day-job was time-consuming enough: managing a research department across 5 universities.)
Corentin couldn't believe his luck when Seb called in early 2019 to see if he'd like to take over the parcel, and waited a nervous 24 hours before jumping at the opportunity.
He picked up where Seb left off, working organically, with no additions in the cellar, except for tiny amounts of sulphur if necessary at bottling.
AVAILABLE NOW
2020 was Corentin's second vintage as Le P'Tit Choses (and his last under the name, but more on that below...) We have limited quantities available of the following two releases:
SPARKLING
2021 - Gaudriole Magnum - Chenin, Cab Franc
Pressed directly to tank, bottled at about 25g residual sugar, fermentation continued in bottle. Hand disgorged in January.
WHITE
2020 - Bibelot - Cab Franc
100% Cab-Franc with a brief whole-bunch maceration for about 10 days, before pressing very slowly to barrels to complete fermentation. Aged for 8 months before bottling in late spring with no additions.
ANOTHER THING…
From his micro-vigneron beginnings with just one hectare in 2019, Corentin and his partner Tiphanie recently embarked on expanding the project together, finding an old stable and an additional six hectares of Grolleau Gris, Grolleau Noir and Gamay to manage organically, alongside the initial Chenin and Cab Franc.
Converting the old stable into a winery just in time for the 2022 harvest, the 2022 releases will now be bottled under the domaine name 'Autre Chose' to celebrate the change from Corentin's solo winemaking project to the new family operation. We caught up with Corentin to get a little more detail:
"2021 was very difficult with the weather. Lots of rain, lots of frost. But, 2022 was great! It was Tiphanie and I's first year working together with the new parcels, properly as Autre Chose.
We now have a total surface of 8 hectares, with the addition of Grolleau Noir, Grolleau Gris, and Gamay.
In 2021, we ran a lot at harvest! With all the rain, the vines that weren't frost damaged, grew very fast. The rhythm was hard! But 2022 was great. Obviously we had lots of new vineyards, but I think we handled it really well.
Unfortunately, on the 9th of August our original parcel of Chenin and Cab Franc in Beaulieu-sur-Layon was caught in a forest fire that swept away part of the Beaulieu forest (1200 hectares of land in total burnt north of Anjou, with 80 hectares of them in Beaulieu-sur-Layon) It's such a strong parcel though, it will bounce back.
Along with the new vineyards we moved to a new house, and have converted the old stable into our winery, it's very exciting to have the space! Behind the house we're planting trees and more vines, a very exciting project that will grow with our child, who we're expecting in May. It's a very exciting time for us!"
New winery almost ready for action!