Les Jardins Esméraldins, 2015 Update
One thing is for sure, if you are looking for a domaine to challenge preconceptions about how wine should be made, and perhaps about how it should taste, you could probably find it in the Loire Valley. In truth you can probably find domaines that fit the bill in all of the Valley’s main region’s, from the backwaters of the Muscadet vineyard, up through Anjou and Saumur, to France’s most central vineyards in Sancerre, and then on to the vineyards of the Massif Central.
Last year I discovered what is perhaps leading candidate for this role in Saumur, in the form of Xavier Caillard (pictured) and Les Jardins Esméraldins. Xavier has no formal training in winemaking, but was bitten by the wine bug when studying for a biology degree in Bordeaux. He moved to the Loire Valley, took up a job working with Mark Angeli of La Ferme de la Sansonnière, and eventually his passion became a reality when he and his partner Muriel set up a tiny domaine in a house near Saumur that belonged to his grandparents.
Key to Xavier’s vinifications is a very long élevage of his whites and reds, either in barrel or in other vessels. Some wines might see out a decade in barrel before Xavier feels the wine is ready for bottling; the wine undergoing a vinous purgatory free of any protective additions including sulphur dioxide. Despite this apparent neglect, some of the wines taste remarkably fresh, although others are clearly marked by oxidation, to some extent or another, and in either case I have not on the whole been convinced by their evolution. The ‘other vessels’ I mention include glass demijohns, Caillard micro-cuvées, and some wines have a style heavily influenced by voile, in other words flor. So that’s Cabernet Franc with flor. As I said, these wines can challenge preconceptions.
