Clos de la Durandière was created in 2020 in the Loire Valley by the passionate Etienne Bodet after having gained a degree in oenology from Reims. He set out to buy some exceptional plots of land belonging to Château de la Durandière, managed by his father Antoine Bodet. Etienne Bodet noticed upon inspection that several of the parcels had an unusual geological composition: although the soil of Saumur was formed by the geological fault of the Armorican massif, this is not the case for the particular 5.5 hectare plot he purchased, which is instead comprising of Jurassic limestone, grey marl and a small amount of tuffeau stone.
Etienne Bodet took on the task of working these parcels and journeying into the depths of the Montreuil-Bellay terroir to showcase its exceptional characteristics. Although the winemaker has never applied for certification, the estate adopts biodynamic methods: the only additives are sulphur (in a very small quantity), copper and the500P and 501 (horn manure and horn silica) preparations.
In the vineyard the work is carefully thought through: debudding, trellising and pruning is carried out by the winemaker himself. The vines are harvested by hand with the highest attention given to sorting the grapes on the vines, a second sorting then occurring later in the cellar. The wines are aged for two years in barrels then in the bottle before being sold.

Like all of Etienne Bodet’s cuvées, Les Graippeaux is a precise, single-vineyard expression drawn from 70-year-old vines rooted in singular soils in Montreuil-Bellay. Here, sandy clayey loam over green chalk defines the soil profile, complemented by layers of tuffeau, the porous limestone so emblematic of the Loire. Vineyard work is rigorous: hand-harvesting, followed by a strict double sorting, first in the vineyard, then again upon reception of the berries at the winery. Whole bunches are pressed directly; barrelling follows before fermentation begins naturally. Aged for two years in oak barrels from 228 to 600 litres, the wine is neither fined nor filtered, resting in bottle for six months before release.