Claire et Floret Bejon Pain-Perdu Cabernet Franc 2021

Country: France

Region: Loire

Type: Red Wine

Grape: Cabernet Franc

For the past few years Claire and Florent Bejon have quietly gone about making some of the best wines in all of the Loire from their little cave in the village of Saint-Germain-sur-Vienne. Although the two have been growing grapes and producing wine for the past two decades, until recent years their production was tiny and the wines almost impossible to find. Florent spent the past few decades traveling around the region helping other vignerons bottle their wines without additives.

Claire and Florent now farm a total of five hectares of vines spread amongst tiny parcels on either bank of the Vienne just to the west of Chinon. The vines are on average fifty years old and planted over complex and varied soils made up of clay, limestone and a large amount of silex, lending the wines structure and minerality. The majority of the vines are planted with Cabernet Franc, but they also farm a little over half a hectare of Chenin Blanc. All work in the vineyard is done organically and by hand. The wines are made in an old cellar dug into the limestone, with an emphasis on long, gentle macerations and a proper élevage in a mix of old casks, demijohns and earthenware jars. Built on a foundation of pristine fruit, their wines are striking in their delicacy, purity and aromatics.

Pain Perdu comes from a small parcel of Cabernet Franc in the village of Beaumont-en-Véron. The vines here are forty years old and planted on a slope over limestone and sand. The grapes were fermented as whole bunches in cuve for two months before being pressed to a combination of vats, old barrels and amphora for a short élevage. This is the most open and fruit forward of these releases, with plush red fruits, a gentle spice and a pleasant herbal character to the finish.