Thomas Boutin
France, Loire, Rochefort-sur-Loire
We love a delivery from Thomas Boutin. We've just received two vintages of three cuvees that he refines each year with careful consideration, and a small quantity of his 2011 botrytised Chenin, Topaze.
Having worked in larger wineries in the past, he's determined to keep his approach small scale and intervention minimal, tackling most jobs in his 3 hectares by hand. Thomas works in the cellar with no additions besides a minimal dose of sulphur at bottling; if he feels the wines require some protection against oxygen.
Presses are slow and gentle in his 1960’s Vaslin (an early mechanical press) he’ll rarely crush to the last drop, preferring not to over-press. Almost everything is vinified in stainless steel or fibreglass; Thomas achieves lovely depth in his whites but doesn't want to risk spoiling their purity with wood, so avoids barrels in the cellar.
We spoke with Thomas recently about the 2019 iterations of some of our favourite Anjou wines, and how the last 12 months have been:
Charabia 2019
“This year it’s 80% Chardonnay and 20% Chenin Blanc, as I had a higher yield of Chenin. It’s true that the Chenin brings freshness and structure but the main reason it’s included here is because I have a little 0.15 hectare parcel that ripens earlier than all the other Chenin. I don’t want to press such a small quantity into a big empty tank, so it goes to Charabia instead. This year it’s floral, straight and light, very easy to drink. It spends 10 months on fine lees in fibreglass before bottling with just a little addition of sulphur. It has 24mg/l total.”
La Quillette 2019
“All my red goes into Quillette, though each variety is vinified separately. This is 55% Gamay, 35% Cab Franc and 10% Grolleau this year. They each have an 8-10 day semi carbonic maceration, and are blended together the following spring. It has an elevage on the lees for about 9 months. “
“In comparison with the 2018, this is really on the fruit, lots of black cherry and raspberry. It's less reductive than 2018 and a little rounder, less acidity perhaps, but really light and smooth. The total sulphites are 42mg/l. I had to add a little more to Quillette this year because it became very fragile in the spring. I wanted to protect it, to keep the quality of the fruit and save the wine.”
Celsiane 2019
“I have 5 different plots of Chenin across Saint Aubin & Rochefort, and 4 of them are picked for Celsiane. In Saint Aubin the soils are schist, with lots of quartz. In Rochefort-sur-Loire it's schist again with compact sand, and something that looks like black schist.
There's 2 plots of younger, 30 year old vines; one picked from each location and 2 plots of older vines planted a little after the Second World War, again one in each location. I pick about 1.5 hectares in total for Celsiane. It has an elevage on the lees in tank for 11 months, and I bottled just before harvest in 2020, it has 24mg/l total sulphites. 2019 was more on the fruit; we have grapefruit, citrus, something fresher this year. It has good density but it's certainly fresher than 2018. 2018 was a bit more closed. “
How has 2020 been for you?
”Covid was a bit scary, we didn't know if we would be able to sell our stock, but in the vines it was actually very easy. At the beginning in spring we had good rain, after that we had a very hot summer with a little water stress for the vineyard so we decided to start harvest very early, at the beginning of September. The wines are looking good now! They are still resting in the barrel, it’s not time to bottle just yet.”
And were you affected by the frosts in April?
“We lost about 20%. That’s maybe 2000 bottles lost but I’m relieved, so many of the growers here lost more than me. We have to learn to live with this now I think, it’s becoming more regular with the growing season.
However, I don't want to burn candles, or use anything to warm the vineyards, I believe that’s not good.
So this year I adjusted my pruning, and I’ll do the same next year: I’ll try to do my vinestock cut at the end of April, so the bud is not too advanced when we have the possibility of frost. When you cut later, the vegetation process starts later and hopefully you can save it a bit. I just want to use this natural method.”
Any new plans for the year ahead?
“My brain is always working away on experimentation, but I never know when I’ll act on the ideas. Sometimes they'll arrive with the harvest, this year I wanted to change the Quillette, and maybe split half the cab franc for a unique cuvee, but I changed my mind at the last minute and blended everything for the cuvee. But I’m still thinking about that straight Cab Franc- so maybe this year! “
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