Claire and Florent Bejon, Loire Valley

It is our pleasure to introduce you to an excellent new producer in our portfolio: Claire and Florent Bejon from Chinon in the Loire Valley.

Quiet achievers Claire and Florent Bejon have been making wine in the Loire Valley for the past two decades. Until recently their production has been miniscule and their wines almost impossible to find. However, in the past few years after procuring their own plots, they have stepped up production, now organically farming almost 5ha of Cabernet Franc and a little Chenin Blanc distributed across small parcels along the banks of the Vienne. The vines are 50 years old on average and are planted across a range of soil types including clay, limestone, and a large amount of silex, which give the wines structure and minerality.

Florent has spent the past few decades working in the region, helping other vignerons bottle their own wines without additions. In the process, he has been exposed to the full spectrum of wine production in the Loire and has met such influential figures as Mark Angeli, who inspired in Florent a passion for sustainable agriculture and a search for purity in wine.

In the vineyard Claire and Florent pursue harmony with nature, letting flowers and weeds run wild among the vines and rarely trimming new shoots. In an old limestone cellar the red grapes are whole-bunch macerated for long periods of infusion – between three weeks and three months – before being transferred to old barriques and amphoras for élevage. Classical music wafts through the cellar at all hours of the day, giving the wines an education in the old masters and a maturity you can taste in the glass.

In all, Claire and Florent’s wines are built on the quality of their fruit. The wines are pure, delicate, and subtly perfumed: a humble ode to the vines from which they come. These are excellent wines that are just starting to get the recognition they deserve in France and around the world - stay tuned for many exciting things to come!