Domaine du Clos Naudin

France, Loire

Domaine du Clos Naudin

Philippe Foreau, at the age of 23, completed his military service and joined his father André in the 1980s at Domaine du Clos Naudin, which was originally established in 1923. The family holdings consisted of a modest bundle of vineyards planted around the house on the Rue de la Croix Buisée, together with some others just to the south on the première côte.

The vineyard holdings remain very much the same, at 11.5 hectares. It is important to note that around three-quarters of the Foreau vineyard holdings are planted on the hallowed première côte. While other leading producers bottle single-site (lieu-dit) cuvées, at Domaine du Clos Naudin they blend and produce cuvées of varying concentrations of residual sugar.

The most coveted of the Foreau’s parcels is Les Perruches (its name stemming from the terroir, perruches, which consists of small clusters of flint mixed with clay, covering a layer of limestone or tuffeau). This parcel is planted on the première côte and located between the vineyards of Le Mont to the west and Les Girardières to the east.

Harvested by hand, the Chenin blanc grapes are picked in stages, according to the desired residual sugar levels – sec, demi-sec and moelleux. Once at the cellar, all pressing is done with pneumatic presses, before the run-off juice goes to 300-litre barrels to undergo fermentation.