Clos des Capucins: Raffault & Baudry-Dutour
From 2001 through to 2007 the vineyard was contracted out by the owners to Rodolphe Raffault, the son of Jean-Maurice Raffault; he tended the vines and made the wines. In 2008, however, the domaine was sold again, this time to Christophe Baudry and Jean-Martin Dutour of Baudry-Dutour, and with this move Rodolphe lost the contract. He perhaps wasn’t too bothered, however, as he had just secured possession of the Clos de l’Hospice, the parcel which lies just below the Clos des Capucins.
Christophe and Jean-Martin had big plans for the Clos des Capucins, as they set about revitalising the vineyard, continuing work commenced by Rodolphe. The Manoir des Capucins was in a fairly run-down state by this time, and they had plans to restore it and convert it into holiday accommodation or a wine bar (I am not sure it was in an ideal location for the latter, although the view would certainly have been in its favour). Their tenure only lasted a few years though; at about this time they purchased the historic Château de la Grille, and wishing to concentrate on this the Clos des Capucins was put up for sale.
The buyer was one Fiona Beeston.
Fiona Beeston
Fiona’s route into wine was through wine retail, working with Steven Spurrier in Paris, and then Lucien Legrand of Caves Legrand, the legendary caviste in Paris. Before long she was writing about wine, with numerous features published in La Revue des Vins de France, and she profiled a number of her favourite vignerons in her book The Wine Men (Sinclair-Stevenson, 1991). She tended to focus on the Loire Valley for her stories, and gravitated towards vignerons such as Nicolas Joly and Guy Bossard.
“I am a self-confessed biodynamic groupie”, Fiona (pictured below) told me.
