Etienne Bodet

History of Domaine Étienne Bodet

The Bodet family has been settled and growing vines in Montreuil-Bellay since the end of the 19th century. Étienne is the fifth generation, born and raised to the rhythm of the viticultural seasons of this Anjou-Saumurois terroir, of which he knows every nuance of soil and every whim of sky.

After a childhood immersed in the family vines, Étienne decided to broaden his horizons. Passionate about wine from an early age, he obtained his oenology degree in Reims before honing his expertise alongside renowned winemakers: in Burgundy at Sylvain Pataille, in the Loire at Domaine Guiberteau and at Clos Rougeard, in Sancerre at SICAVAC, and in Champagne at Pierre Gerbais. This exceptional journey forged in him a rare dual competence — the scientific rigour of the oenologist and the intuitive sensibility of the winemaker — while allowing him to observe, absorb, and surpass the approaches of the greatest names in the French vineyard.

Étienne and Kimberley met in the United States in 2014, when Étienne was working with a wine importer in North Carolina. From that moment on, they shared both their lives and their journey through wine. Together, they founded Maison Bodet-Herold, an ambitious project dedicated to the sparkling wines of the Loire. In 2017, Étienne decided to break away from the family estate to build his own. He started with négociant activity, in partnership with his wife, specialising in sparkling wines.

In 2020, he settled definitively in the village of his childhood to create his own estate and vinify his first cuvée with his own grapes.

Terroirs and Vines of Domaine Étienne Bodet

The estate draws on terroirs of remarkable geological singularity, spread across several plots around Montreuil-Bellay and the village of Ternay, five kilometres away.

Le Clos Durandière is the estate's absolute jewel. It is a true walled clos of 1.30 hectares, situated just a few metres from the family home. Nine rows of Cabernet Franc, planted in 1983, hold deep symbolic value for Étienne, who grew up alongside these vines and which his father later gifted to him on the occasion of his marriage. But beyond sentimental attachment, it is above all a terroir of the very highest calibre. The bedrock emerges at only 50 cm depth, on an exceptionally rare soil of Bathonian Jurassic limestone, far older and harder than the tuffeau typically found in the Saumurois. This substrate lends the wines a tension, depth and ageing potential that are truly exceptional.

Les Graippeaux is a 1.2-hectare plot planted with Chenin Blanc in Ternay. This single-vineyard cuvée comes from a 70-year-old Chenin massal selection, on the classic white wine soil of the Saumurois: Green Chalk topped with a silty-clay layer. This chalky limestone terroir lends the white wines a striking natural acidity and a minerality of great purity.

Le Clos des Vaudelles is another Cabernet Franc plot of 1.9 hectares, also located in Montreuil-Bellay, which completes the red wine vineyard. The estate also holds a Chenin Blanc plot known as Taison Noire, in Montreuil-Bellay.

Across all of these vines, Étienne practises biodynamic viticulture (uncertified), using only copper and sulphur treatments, the biodynamic preparations 500, 500p and 501, Guyot-Poussard pruning with 2–3 buds per cane, as well as leaf removal and green harvesting when necessary. The harvest is carried out entirely by hand, with rigorous sorting to select only perfectly ripe and healthy grapes.

Vinifications at Domaine Étienne Bodet

Étienne Bodet's cellar is a precision laboratory where every gesture is considered, weighed, and owned. The trained oenologist is not merely a technician: he is an artist who takes his risks at the right moment and in the right place.

For the red wines, the philosophy is one of radical non-interventionism. Fermentations are conducted with indigenous yeasts, without the addition of SO₂, with up to 35% whole clusters, and without pigeage or pump-overs. Macerations last 26 to 28 days. The aim is to extract fruit and substance without brutalising the grape. Ageing takes place in barrels sourced largely from the Le Bourg cuvée of Clos Rougeard and lasts a minimum of 24 months. A touch of sulphites is added at bottling, at approximately 20 mg/L total. The wines then spend six months in stainless steel tanks, followed by six months in bottle before release, representing a total refinement period of nearly three years before coming to market.

For the white wines, the approach is equally demanding. Fermentation with indigenous yeasts, extended ageing of 22 to 24 months in old barrels, bottling without fining or filtration. The Chenin thus fully expresses the minerality of its limestone terroir, with an aromatic complexity that sometimes evokes the great oxidative ageing styles of the Jura.

The Cuvées of Domaine Étienne Bodet

Clos Durandière (Cabernet Franc)

The estate's flagship cuvée, the one that revealed Étienne Bodet to lovers of great Loire wines. Drawn from the mythical clos planted in 1983 on an exceptionally rare Jurassic limestone, this 100% Cabernet Franc Saumur Rouge expresses the full nobility of its terroir: radiant fruit, a silky texture and remarkable depth. Vinified without extraction, with partial whole-cluster fermentation and 24 months of ageing in old barrels, Clos Durandière is a wine of place — intense, precise, and of great elegance. Its polished, enveloping tannins make it approachable young, yet its mineral structure ensures serene cellaring for 10 to 15 years. An essential wine for lovers of exceptional Saumurois terroir wines.

Les Graippeaux (Chenin Blanc)

Les Graippeaux is the estate's Chenin Blanc cuvée, sourced from a massal selection of 70-year-old old vines in the commune of Ternay, on a terroir of Green Chalk topped with a silty-clay layer. Enthusiasts report notes of baked apple, spices and a complexity in which the extended ageing stands out, with a generous volume on the palate and a remarkable persistence underpinned by a lovely acidity. An exceptional Saumur white, with prolonged ageing that recalls the great wines of Labet or Ganevat, for lovers of terroir-driven Chenin with great ageing potential.