Aurélien Revillot: Vineyards
The vines are split between three of the communes eligible for the Bourgueil appellation, these being Bourgueil itself, Benais (where half of Aurélien’s vines are to be found) and Ingrandes de Touraine. Aurélien started with just 2 hectares of vines in Bourgueil in 2012, subsequently adding a parcel of rented vines in St Nicolas de Bourgueil the following year. He treasured these vines, this being his only parcel on a gravel terroir, but unfortunately he could only hold on to them for a few years. The tenancy came to an end in 2016.
Thus up to and including the 2016 vintage Aurélien had 2.3 hectares to his name, but with the loss of this latter parcel he is now down to just 2 hectares again. He owns about one-third of these vines, and rents the other two-thirds. The domaine is really quite morcellated, and during our moonlit tour Aurélien and I visited three of the more significant parcels he owns.
The first, which we reached having pushed his van out of an unidentified vineyard, was in Benais, near Clos Sénéchal. Here Aurélien has a parcel of 78-year old vines covering just 0.12 hectares, on clay over limestone. Clay, says Aurélien, is a feature of Benais. Our second port of call was in Grand Mont, a 0.4-hectare parcel of 35-year old vines adjacent to those belonging to the Caslot family.
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