The Bobinet estate in Saumur: great wines that bear the identity of the winegrowers

Sébastien Bobinet's job as a winegrower: "I love contact with nature and working the land, which is something very profound. It's an absolutely wonderful job: from pruning to winemaking, there's a real creative work. "Sébastien Bobinet and Emeline Calvez flourish on the family estate in Saumur where they produce wines of fine quality, in their own image, their own idea and in accordance with their philosophy.

Sébastien Bobinet puts into practice his philosophy of work on the family estate.

Sébastien Bobinet returns to the family estate in Saumur at the age of 32: "We are the 8th generation on the estate" he explains. "I wanted to go back to my roots after having spent all my youth in the euphoria of the harvest and the making of wine. "Sébastien wants to get back in touch with the earth, nature and space. In 2002, he set down his luggage on the 3 hectares of vines in Saumur and immediately started the organic conversion of the Bobinet estate. "I committed myself to organic conversion with the idea of avoiding inputs as much as possible, both in the vineyard and in the winemaking process," confides the winemaker. "At the moment, we have had to put this project on stand-by, but it will resume in the very short term". At Domaine Bobinet, the work philosophy goes far beyond the mere respect of the earth: "We want to produce wines with a work that respects the earth of course, but also a work that is socially respectful. We have a philosophy that is not only turned towards the earth but also towards the people who work with us. »

With Emeline, the Bobinet estate expands

When Sébastien met his wife, Émeline Calvez, a sommelier in a wine cellar in Paris, Domaine Bobinet was given a new lease of life: the winegrowing couple expanded the estate, which today extends over 8 hectares. "We decided to carry out this project together", says Sébastien, "we wanted to enlarge the domain while remaining on the same philosophy. "During 2 years, the young winegrowers work their ranges on all the domain. "Today, we have divided the work between us. I work more on the vines when Émeline works mainly on the vinification", explains Sébastien.

Our "coup de cœur" vintages from the estate:

Ruben 2017

Amatéüs Bobi 2016

The Bobinet estate: Saumur in the wines

Sébastien and Émeline grow Cabernet Franc and Chenin. The youngest vines are about 40 years old, the oldest vines are about 80 years old. A well-considered choice for the quality of the wines: "the older the vines are, the more character and aroma they bring to the wines because they are more rooted in the terroir and the soil," the winemaker points out. All the more interesting as the terroir is an inexhaustible source of quality for the Saumur vines. "We have a limestone subsoil: it is the mother rock of our region. This limestone brings a tension in the wines, very saline and iodized characters with aromatic of the order of flint " notes Sébastien. "Above the bedrock, we can have from 40 m to 1 m50 of land depending on the plots. Sometimes these soils are very silty, other times they are rather clayey. It's the difference in soil that allows us to obtain very different wines: aromas of spicy ripe fruit or fresher fruit such as white peaches", says the passionate winemaker.

Sébastien Bobinet: "We want to make natural, precise, terroir wines: wines that are a delight".

Naturally, the winegrowers of Domaine Bobinet vinify the wines by plot. The vintages are then elaborated with a logic and plot coherence, as Sébastien explains: "The cuvée Ruben, for example, brings together 3 plots of land which are on deep, clayey soils. "Certain plots of land, particular and of interest, are vinified separately and are the subject of a cuvée of their own. "For this reason, we offer many vintages on the estate," exclaims Sébastien. "Above all, we try to produce wines that resemble us. They have no equivalent in the sense that we want wines with an identity ... which is ours.

Head full of projects for the winegrowers of Domaine Bobinet.

Sébastien and Emeline sparkle with ideas and projects to develop the Bobinet field. This year, they started a small wine bar activity : " this activity pleases us a lot ", exclaims Sébastien, " it was a real success, we will continue to transform this trial. "On the vineyard side, convinced by organic agriculture, the young winegrowers are already looking further." Several agronomic theories interest us, such as permaculture or biodynamics. It's extremely interesting! We are currently exploring these applications," confides the winegrower.

The promises of the 2017 vintage?

"The harvest went wonderfully well. It's a quite magnificent harvest, we have a very nice balance between the maturity of the grapes and the acidity which will allow us to have fresh wines. The wines will be powerful but not heavy, and we are committed to a vintage for laying down. It will be very beautiful, that's for sure. "

Manon Mouly (for Les Grappes)