Visit at Domaine des Aubuisières, Bernard Fouquet, in Vouvray, Touraine - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Today, in the morning, we explored the Vouvray region. 

Following:

Visit at Domaine Denis Meunier in Vernou-sur-Brenne, Touraine, with Daniel Meunier - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

we visited Domaine des Aubuisières, Bernard Fouquet. This was mainly a tasting in the wine cellar, with a quick look at the winemaking facilities and a longer look at the bottling of a Crémant de Loire.

Domaine des Aubuisières, Bernard Fouquet, is represented in the USA by Weygandt-Metzler. 

Domaine des Aubuisières, Bernard Fouquet, in Vouvray, Touraine

This is one of the top domains in Vouvray. Bernard Fouquet is widely regarded as one of the top Vouvray producers and his ability to capture the mineral tones unique to Vouvray’s soil is legendary. This is a relatively young wine producing domaine, but the Fouquet family was involved in the wine business as grape breeders and grape grafting in their own grape vine nursery. Bernard Fouquet had no interest in continuing the nursery; he wanted to make wine and after stints in Alsace and Burgundy he founded Domaine des Aubuisières in 1982. He crafted a portfolio of superb wines and quickly rose to the top tier winemaker in the region. His children pursued other careers and when Bernard Fouquet fell ill during Covid times, the necessity to find an associate became more pressing. Since 2021 it is Charles Lesaffre, who’s family already had connections to the Fouquet family, who is managing the estate. The domaine has 75 acres of vineyards solely planted with Chenin Blanc. The vineyards have the classic Vouvray
terroir: limestone bedrock and superficial flint (Silex in French), and some limestone mixed with fine clay. This combination, particularly when the limestone is the ‘Tuffeau Jaune’ is locally known as ‘aubuis’, hence the name of the domaine.

Weygandt-Metzler

Despite Vouvray's storied wine-making past (its origins extending back to the monks of the abbey of Marmoutier founded in 372 by Saint Martin), many of the appellation's leading domaines have a fairly short history. Domaine des Aubuisières is no exception. Both the domaine and its reputation owe themselves to the humble work of Bernard Fouquet, who built the estate up from the few small plots of vines he inherited from his father.

Bernard's father André Fouquet was not so much a vigneron as a pépiniériste, a "nurseryman" who specialized in grafting new vines. In 1978 André took over 6 hectares of vineyards from Gérald Bruley des Varannes (the winemaker at Château des Girardières). These holdings became the basis for Bernard's beginnings as a winemaker starting in 1982.

The domaine's parcels contain the two classic terroirs of Vouvray: limestone and flint (silex in French). Some plots are rich in flint fragments of various sizes embedded in clay, a soil type known locally as perruches (flinty clays combined with silica). Others are characterized by limestone (specifically "tuffeau," a lower-density limestone variant formed from sediment and fossilized sea creatures) mixed with clay, a blend known as aubuis, the apparent namesake of the domaine.

From 1990 to 1996 Bernard acquired additional plots in Le Plan de Jean, Le Marigny, and Le Bouchet, all rich in clay-limestone soils. Other acquisitions included the 10 hectares of flint-peppered vineyards in Les Girardières. In 2013, the estate absorbed a coveted 2-hectare clay-limestone plot previously rented by Domaine Huet: Le Petit Clos. The wines from this hillside have been vinified in sandstone amphorae since 2021 to contribute to the wine's roundness.

Bernard retired in 2021, handing the reins to Charles Lesaffre. Charles is the grandson of Gérald Bruley des Varannes, the man from whom Bernard's father André acquired his first vineyards, thereby bringing the story of the Domaine full circle. An avid practitioner of viticulture and oenology, Charles joined Bernard as an associate in 2019. Two years into his tenure, Charles has put an emphasis on organic and biodynamic practices. Charles has continued, as Bernard before him, to capture the unique Vouvray mineral tones, along with the wonderfully balanced expression of fruit of the Chenin Blanc grape, in his wines.

Arriving

Tasting

Quick Cellar Tour

Bottling Crémant de Loire