Etienne Bodet is the 5th generation of his family working on the beautiful Jurassic limestone terroirs they own in Montreuil-Bellay in Saumur where they have been producing both sparkling and still wines for more than a century. An accomplished oenologist in his own right Etienne has worked with an amazing roll call of producers before striking out on his own in 2020.

His family are not only wine growers for the well known Chateau de la Durandière label of still wines, his aunt also runs Louis de Grenelle, the largest independent sparkling producer based in the heart of Saumur. His god-father is none other than Romain Guiberteau, with whom he has worked recently as well. And to top it off, he has been on the winemaking team at Clos Rougeard since 2021.

The Etienne Bodet Story

’My passion for wine has always been a marker of my identity. From a very young age, my grandparents instilled in me a love of our terroir. The moments of harvest during my youth are my most cherished. The Bodet family has owned vines on the right bank of Montreuil-Bellay since the end of the 19th century. It is this historical terroir (vines since the 10th century in this part of the village) and undervalued potential that I seek to express. My artisanal, philosophical and idealistic vision of wine has generated some opposition within my family. Our differences of ideas pushed me to fly on my own.

These differences find their foundations in my training and my experiences that I have been able to undertake. Sylvain Pataille nurtured me for 2 years during my BTS viti oeno. His talent, his personality, and his ideas deeply marked me. He is for me my godfather in wine, an inexhaustible source of reflection. Subsequently, I was able to work within the Bernard Baudry estate to understand a little more about the materials of Cabernet Franc. My training also led me to work with François Dal, agricultural engineer, at SICAVAC in Sancerre. He opened my eyes to the dogmas of the milieu. He pushed me to become more alert, more rigorous in viticulture while being as much in tune as possible with my convictions. He, too, marked a turning point in my career. After these first experiences, I went to Champagne for the national diploma in oenology which I successfully obtained in 2020. I had the chance to work with Aurélien Gerbais, from Champagne Pierre Gerbais. With him, I learned precision, attention to detail. He instilled in me the perpetual search for excellence and precision. The Guiberteau estate and the Clos Rougeard are my last experiences, they allowed me to understand all the more our Loire grape varieties, our terroirs and our breedings (I cannot be moved by Cabernet Franc only after a long-term refining. The aromatic and angularity of this grape before aging disinterests me to the highest degree.). Today, I still work at Clos Rougeard. I was responsible for the last two vintages winemaking in 2021 and 2022, an eminently formative experience.

I treat my vines only with copper and sulfur and I use biodynamic preparations 500, 500p and 501. The vines of my domain are attached to my father's agricultural company, my father does not work in organic, I cannot obtain the certification for the moment. I convinced myself of the relevance of certain biodynamic preparations. During my experiences with Sylvain Pataille and François Dal, I saw its effectiveness empirically and even scientifically in Sancerre. Despite everything, I do not want to belong to a fixed ideology and I would like to be able to sell my wines for what they are - the wines of a given terroir without artifice and in respect of the soil of my ancestors.

I prune my vine using Guyot Poussard in search of the life path of the vine, I debud two to three times depending on the vintage, I split, I remove the secondary branches, I leaf and I carry out a green harvest if necessary, I work as much as possible with a pickaxe under the row of vines. I try to listen to my plot. I have the pleasure of having the help of my grandfather in these labors. The harvest is of course by hand and sorted.

Vinification and aging take place without sulphur, in native yeasts, with more or less whole bunches depending on the vintage to seek the elegant and spicy expression of an intracellular fermentation of the berries. I take a lot of risks in sulphur-free winemaking, but these are measured and considered risks. I taste my wines as much as possible and allow myself the use of organic nitrogen in my musts depending on the vintage, the only input used during vinification. I play on temperatures and carbon dioxide to control the alcoholic fermentation. The malolactic fermentation was made during maceration in 2021 and 2022.

Cabernet Franc is a raw material that takes a long time to polish. I age my wines for a minimum of two years in barrels new to three wines, then 6 months in vats and 6 months in bottles before selling. The temperature and humidity of the cellars are fundamental criteria in order to polish the tannins as much as possible. The objective is to obtain a refined, spiritual wine that is as moving as possible.’ - Etienne Bodet