2020 Brendan Stater-West Saumur La Ripaille Rouge

WINEMAKER: Brendan Stater-West
REGION: Loire Valley, FR
VARIETAL: Cabernet Franc
VITICULTURE: Organic

La Ripaille is a strict selection from the oldest vines in the Brézé lieu-dit of the same name. The grapes are sorted directly in the vineyard (with a sorting table), fully destemmed and then fermented in concrete with infusion-style maceration for up to one week. It’s aged on lees in ex-Guiberteau barrels (mostly 2-5 years old) with one new barrel added each year. As expected, you’ll find more amplitude and intensity than in the Saumur Rouge, yet there is a surge of vibrancy and lift to maintain the producer’s refreshing signature. Earth and spice are joined by deep berry and black raspberry flavours, while the enveloping structures and juicy fruit drive a lingering and focussed close. The balance between the fruit and the limestone-derived form is mouth-watering. A terrific Saumur rouge with a long life ahead of it.

If you are new to the story, Brendan Stater-West fell in love with Loire Chenin Blanc while working at a wine store in Paris. He was particularly drawn to the purity and electricity of Chenin Blanc grown on limestone, especially the wines of Romain Guiberteau. As Brendan tells the story, the day after tasting Guiberteau’s 2013 Brézé, he tracked down the grower’s number and asked him for a job. Initially rebuffed, Stater-West was not going to take no for an answer and continued (in his words) to pester for a month or two until, at last, Romain yielded and accepted to take the passionate young American under his wing. Arriving in the summer of 2012, Stater-West quickly established himself as Romain Guiberteau’s right hand. As we visited the cellars from 2013 onwards, it became increasingly apparent that the fast-learning apprentice was becoming an indispensable cog in the day-to-day running of the domaine. Indeed, during one of these visits, Romain Guiberteau told us that without Stater-West’s assistance, the wines would not be at the level they are today. As it turned out, he would soon be able to return the favour.

Right from the beginning, Stater-West had been clear that his long-term goal was to make his own wines under his own label, and the opportunity arose sooner than expected. In early 2015 Guiberteau liberated his family’s vines in the terroir of Les Chapaudaises from the local co-op and offered to lease Stater-West one hectare of Chenin Blanc (while keeping the Cabernet Franc vines for his own domaine). Domaine Brendan Stater-West got off to a flying start, releasing a 2015 that sold out in no time. But the young winemaker’s progress was curtailed when Les Chapaudaises was severely frosted in 2016 and 2017, leaving next to no fruit to work with. As Brendan tells it, he had as good as given up on this dream before, by chance, Romain Guiberteau was offered the vineyards of an old winegrowing family without an heir to take over. Judging he already had enough on his plate, Romain recommended they talk instead to his ambitious chef de culture.

The purchase (in 2018) gave Brendan Stater-West a fully-fledged Saumur domaine replete with an old wine cellar in nearby Chacé, within the appellation Saumur-Champigny. In total, he is now working with 3.5 hectares of vines, although on paper, the domaine covers just over five hectares (including a small parcel of recently planted Chenin in the Clos de Guichaux). In the vines, Stater-West follows the teachings of ‘soil man’, Yves Hérody, to improve the health and structure of his soils through the introduction of fresh organic fertilizer and cover crops which capture and return nitrogen to the soil (like fava bean, rye, clover and mustard). The plants are tilled into the ground during the winter along with the composted manure.