Domaine des Baumard: Jean Baumard
A graduate of both Dijon and Bordeaux Universities, Jean Baumard took the reins of the family business in 1955, aged just 24 years. Alongside his work in the vine nursery he also set about establishing and expanding the domaine. As his father Charles Baumard also owned a café in Rochefort-sur-Loire, any wine produced was quickly sold and consumed. Most notable among his early achievements were the acquisition of over 5 hectares of land in the Quarts de Chaume appellation in 1957, just two years after his arrival, followed by 14.5 hectares in Savennières purchased from the Pirie family of Château de Varennes, specifically vines in the Clos du Papillon and Clos de Saint Yves, in 1968. Today these two appellations, as I have already alluded in my introduction, remain stalwarts in the Domaine des Baumard portfolio.
Jean’s activities did not stop with the family domaine and nursery though, as there was an academic side to him as well. He took a chair at the École Supérieure d’Agriculture et de Viticulture d’Angers in 1955, a remarkably young age for such an achievement. He left in 1970, subsequently taking on the presidency of the Fédération Viticole de l’Anjou from 1971 to 1976; at the same time he held this office he also breathed new life into the Union des Syndicats d’AOC du Val de Loire in 1974. And despite entering retirement in 1990, turning the reins of Domaine des Baumard over to the next generation, he has still found the necessary time to develop a popular oenology course at the Université du Troisième Age d’Angers, as well as penning the definitive history of the Quarts de Chaume appellation, Un Grand Vin du Monde: Le Quarts de Chaume (Société Nouvelle Imprimerie Paquereau Technographis, 2007). And he has achieved all this despite having moved to the Mediterranean coast to enjoy his golden years in style.
