Frantz Saumon
In Montlouis, Frantz works about 5 different Chenin vineyards with a variety of soils. Clos du Chene, which is bottled as a single-vineyard cuvée when the vintage permits, is all tuffeau, a very hard limestone found in the valley, with very little clay topsoil. All other Chenin parcels are either clay over limestone, clay with silex, or clay with broken down limestone (argile a eboulis calcaire.)
The vineyards average between 20 and 50 years old, with Clos du Chene being the exception, consisting of vines that are between 70 to 100 years old. - Frantz Saumon