Calvez-Bobinet

Sébastien Bobinet grew up helping his grandfather in the vines at Dampierre-sur-Loire and took over the family estate at Beaulieu in 2002: a couple of hectares on the slopes, and a cellar unlike almost anything else in France. The cave runs hundreds of metres into the tuffeau and sits at a constant 12°C without a single piece of kit. It shapes everything made inside it.

His teachers were a serious line-up. Olivier Cousin, who showed him how to plough with horses. Charly Foucault of Clos Rougeard, which is about as revered as the Loire gets. And Bernard Pontonnier, who in 2007 introduced him to carbonic maceration and changed the shape of the reds completely.

Émeline Calvez arrived in 2011 from a different direction entirely. A career-ending injury ended the dancing, so she trained as a sommelier at Suze-la-Rousse, graduated first in her class, worked at La Quincave in Paris where she found natural wine, then spent a year moving around French vineyards and cellars before landing in Saumur. The domaine as it stands is the two of them, which is why we call it Calvez-Bobinet.

Poil de Lièvre is the one most people meet first. Chenin Blanc, fermented on its own yeasts and raised six months on lees in old barrels, with green apple, pear and a saline edge. The name means hare’s fur, which is about the texture. It has been on good Paris lists for years.

At the easy end sit the Piak bottles in blanc, rouge and rosé, the Chenin and Grolleau Gris pét nat Le Temps Est Bon, the rosé pét nat Le Ciel Est Bleu, and Du Rififi à Beaulieu. Hanami is the juicy Cabernet Franc, Aunis is Pineau d’Aunis and peppery with it, Les Iles is Grolleau, and Ipanema is a red and white field blend that should not work and completely does.

Then the serious ones. Amateus Bobi is Sébastien’s original cuvée, Cabernet Franc with over a year in barrel and that cool Saumur stoniness. Échalier and Ruben are the other old-vine Cabernet Francs, IDA and Orangette the skin contact Chenins, and Les Gruches, from 60 and 80 year old Chenin, is the one to keep.

They also make two things for us alone: a Chenin and a Cabernet Franc in bag-in-box and bagnum under our MNW Naturel label, plus the magnum C’est Bon, Ça?. Natural wine in a box, done properly, is still a rarer thing than it should be.

The farming is chemical-free and the ploughing is done by horse, in the tradition Olivier Cousin taught Sébastien. The vineyards sit on tuffeau, the soft porous white limestone that runs under this part of the Loire. It holds water and releases it slowly, so the vines rarely stress and the wines keep a kind of mineral calm whatever the vintage threw at them.

In the cellar no sulphur goes in at any point, and neither does anything else. Fermentations all start on the yeasts that come in on the fruit. Wines move between old oak, steel, concrete and clay depending on what they need: IDA, the orange one, gets three weeks on skins in concrete before going into non-porous clay.

Saumur-Champigny has been a slow burn. Dominated for decades by Clos Rougeard, it has gradually built up a generation of growers working the same way, and Émeline and Sébastien are part of that. They helped bring the local growers together to make Saumur-Champigny the first appellation in France to collectively agree on cutting chemical treatments across the whole area. Small on paper, significant in practice.

Where are Calvez-Bobinet based?

Beaulieu, in Saumur-Champigny in the Loire Valley, France. The estate includes a cave cellar cut deep into tuffeau limestone that holds a constant 12°C all year without any equipment.

Who are Émeline Calvez and Sébastien Bobinet?

Sébastien is the seventh or eighth generation on these vines and took the estate on in 2002, trained by Olivier Cousin, Charly Foucault of Clos Rougeard and Bernard Pontonnier. Émeline was a professional dancer before an injury took her to wine; she trained as a sommelier, graduated first in her class and joined in 2011. He farms, she makes the wine.

What is Poil de Lièvre?

The Chenin Blanc, and the usual way in. Spontaneous fermentation, six months on lees in old barrels, no sulphur added. Green apple, pear and a saline finish. The name means hare's fur and refers to the texture.

What is tuffeau?

The soft white limestone that runs under Saumur and much of the Loire, and the stone the châteaux are built from. It holds water and gives it back slowly, so the vines stay unstressed and the wines keep their minerality even in hot years. It is also what the cellar is carved into.

Do Calvez-Bobinet wines contain sulphites?

No sulphur goes in across the range, and neither does anything else. Small amounts of sulphites occur naturally in all wine as a by-product of fermentation, so no wine is ever truly sulphite-free.

Which Calvez-Bobinet wine should I start with?

Poil de Lièvre for the Chenin or Hanami for the Cabernet Franc. If you want the fun end, Le Temps Est Bon or any of the Piak bottles. Les Gruches is the one to put away.