In the Vineyard
Located on the south bank of the Loire, the domaine spreads over the best vineyard plots.
The Château du Hureau vineyard spreads over about twenty plots covering around 20 hectares, over the villages of Dampierre sur Loire, Souzay-Champigny and Saumur.
18.5 hectares are planted with Cabernet Franc, all of them within the appellation of Saumur-Champigny.
The Saumur Blanc and Coteaux de Saumur come from 4 little plots of Chenin, representing 1.5 hectares.
The whole vineyard is planted on the tuffeau, a sedimentary limestone from the cretaceous era, with which all the Loire castles and houses were built. The tuffeau is also renowned to be an ideal base for vineyards soils: it heats up easily after the winter and regulates beautifully the water supply during summer.
The tuffeau drains well, and during the summer droughts, the vine roots can still find enough humidity to help the grapes ripen well.
Differences in the soil texture, in the depth of the tuffeau, in the exposition, in the distance from the Loire, in the altitude, plus the plant’s origin and, of course, the age of the vines, all these things give a different potential to each plot.
It’s because they love the tuffeau that the Chenin and the Cabernet Franc became the favourite grape varieties throughout the Saumur and Touraine.
