About the Domaine
The husband-and-wife team of Hervé and Caroline Maligne met while studying in Bordeaux. Despite no family connections to the wine trade, they’ve built impressive resumes in a relatively short time. After her studies, Caroline spent several years working at Chateau Lamothe in Bordeaux while Hervé, made wine in Saint-Emillion (Chateau Jean-Faure), Burgundy (Domaine Decelle & Fils), and the Roussillon (Mas Amiel) under the tutelage of Olivier Decelle.
With the goal of one day having their own Domaine, in late 2018 the young couple jumped at the opportunity to purchase a 16-hectare Domaine in the heart of the Saumur-Champigny appellation. Centered in the village of Varrains, the Domaine is spread over 33 individual plots, with an average vine age of 40 years. Their neighbors are a veritable who’s who of the greatest vignerons in the region – Antoine Sanzay, Thierry Germain, and Clos Rougeard.
The estate is comprised of 15-hectares of Cabernet Franc and 1-hectare of Chenin Blanc. To help finance the purchase of the Domaine, roughly half of the annual Cabernet Franc production is sold to the co-operative. The gems of the Domaine are the two single-vineyard Cabernet Francs from the famed parcels of Les Poyeux and Chaintres. The name, Sables Verts, or “green sand”, comes from the greenish sand present in many of the top vineyards of Saumur-Champigny, that is mixed with Clay-Limestone and Limestone-Silica in the topsoil which ultimately sits atop a bedrock of limestone rich tuffeaux.
In the vineyards, Caroline and Hervé work as naturally as possible. They’ve had the HVE certification (Haute Valeur Environnementale) from the first vintage and are in the process of converting the Domaine to full organic certification. All grapes are hand harvested and vatted by gravity into their old underground cellar dug deep into the limestone tuffeaux bedrock. Fermentation begins spontaneously, using only the naturally occurring indigenous yeasts. Apart from a few milligrams of sulfur before bottling, no additives are used in the vinification.
The range includes two entry-level wines and four parcellaire (single vineyard) wines. The entry-level Saumur Blanc and a Saumur-Champigny Rouge, are sourced from multiple vineyard sites and made for early drinkability. These wines undergo a short ageing in stainless steel and used oak of 6-9 months. For the parcellaire wines Les Rouères Blanc, Les Poyeux, and Les Clos Forènes are all aged a minimum of 12 months before bottling. Les Rouères Blanc in a combination of 400L oak barrels and a12hl wooden vat. Les Poyeux, and Les Clos Forènes, are raised in a combination of used oak barrels of various sizes, sandstone amphora, and stainless steel, while the Chaintres spends 24 months in a 15hl Foudre.
Caroline and Hervé are young and still relatively new to the region, it’s exciting to think about where Domaine des Sables Verts will be in five, ten, twenty years’ time. Each year the wines have improved and that includes a very difficult 2021 vintage. As the couple continue to learn the strengths of their many terroirs and hone their approach in the cellar, we expect much more from Domaine des Sables Verts.
