AN EXCEPTIONAL LIMESTONE TERROIR  FOR ANJOU

Founded in the 6th century, the nearby Abbey of Saint-Maur developed vines in Anjou from the year 845.

This is how the vine was established in Cheman, as in the best surrounding terroirs.

Cheman is a protected valley, made up of two plateaux and two facing hillsides, one of limestone chalk, the other of sandstone shales.

The estate, in one piece around the castle, has 17 hectares of vines and a bio-diversity reserve of 8 hectares of woods and meadows. Certified ORGANIC since March 2024, we take particular care to allow a rich ecosystem to develop: we do not use any synthetic phytosanitary products, only old style bouillie bordelaise (sulphur and copper), within the limits of the doses accepted in ORGANIC farming.

We allow the natural grass to flourish, in order to provide a place for insects, therefore birds, deer, hares, foxes, etc.

Since the natural arrival of a swarm of bees, we have undertaken to develop the installation of hives with the help of a local beekeeper.

LIMESTONES, OSTRACEAS SOUTH-WEST ORIENTED:

White, luminous lands, the beginning of the limestones of Saumurois, Touraine and up to the borders of the Marne and Burgundy.

Here oceans have succeeded one another since the Cenomanian (Cretaceous) and have sedimented several times over geological time for 100 million years.

Cheman marks the beginning of this

"ocean" of the Paris Basin and the

limestone hillside reveals the

successive layers of shells

fossils and oyster marls.

CLAYS, SANDOUS SHALES ORIENTED NORTHEAST:

Brown, rocky earth, outcropping blocks of sandstone, the beginning of metamorphic rocks and armoric schists which pass underground. Fossil sponges fill the clayey ground which

overhangs the deep veins of schists that we

found in slate quarries a few steps away.

These massive sandstone blocks are the

result of the fusion of salts of water and sand

by the water runoff over millions of years.

VARIETY:

Made up mainly of Cabernet Franc, with a few plots of Chenin, Grolleau and Cabernet Sauvignon, the grape varieties have been 60% renovated since 2008 but the 40% of old vines are over 40 years old. The grass cover is total, with regular tillage, and the Estate also has 8 hectares of woods and meadows as a biodiversity reserve favoring the presence of animals: insects, bats, common birds, birds of prey, hares, deer, wild boar, etc.

WATER :

Here it is very present, with a stream converted into a reach, whose source comes from the top of the estate hill, which flows into the Loire 1.5 km away. The estate is supplied by a well. This water separates our two hillsides and marks the limit between the two terroirs, it also feeds a few herons thanks to a profusion of common fish.

In the fall, this stream in the hollow of the valley gives us pleasant morning mists.