Le Petit Saint Vincent Saumur-Champigny, Loire, France 2022

Dominique Joseph, or "Pelo" as he is affectionately called by his friends, is the fourth generation to lead Domaine Le Petit Saint Vincent. He lives in Varrains, the heart of the Saumur Champigny appellation, and has some pretty illustrious neighbors. Antoine Sanzay and Thierry Germain of Domaine des Roches Neuve live down the block and Clos Rougeard is in the next town over. 

Domaine Le Petit Saint Vincent farms 13 hectares of vineyards, with all but one being planted to Cabernet Franc. Dominique has led the winery since 1990 and they have been farming organically since at least then. (They finally got around to filling out all the paperwork and got their organic certification in 2010.)

Dominique's wines are transparent expressions of the magic that happens when well-farmed Cabernet Franc vines grow in clay and limestone soils over tuffeau.

 Le Petit Saint Vincent comes from Dominique Joseph's younges Cabernet Franc vines just outside the village of Varrains. The soils are sandy. It is vinified and aged entirely in cement. The combination of the aging and it being Cabernet Franc from sandy soils makes it the most immediately approachable bottling from Dominique.