Clément Baraut spent a career helping others farm better before making wine under his own name. Today he is a small, deeply principled vigneron in the Loire's Anjou, dedicated above all to Chenin Blanc and the schist soils of Savennières.
Backstory
Originally from Burgundy and trained as an oenologist in Beaune, Baraut arrived in Anjou around 1989 as a consultant in the Savennières appellation. For more than two decades he worked within a structure linking growers and the Chamber of Agriculture, specializing in converting vineyards to organic and biodynamic farming and training many local vignerons. He managed Patrick Baudoin's domaine from 2008 to 2012 and established his own estate in the years that followed, acquiring parcels including land in Roche-aux-Moines from Nicolas Joly.
The Region
Baraut is based at Mûrs-Erigné, across the Loire from Angers in the Maine-et-Loire, working benchmark Chenin terroirs of Savennières including the famed Roche-aux-Moines, near the Coulée de Serrant.
Vineyards and Farming
The domaine is small, around four hectares, of which about 2.4 are in Savennières. Soils are sandy decomposed schist and sandstone over schist bedrock, with igneous and volcanic rock such as spilite and rhyolite, at 50 to 100 meters of altitude. Farming is certified organic with biodynamic practice, and his aim is to cause as little stress to the vines as possible while letting the energy of each parcel reach the wine.
Winemaking
Harvest is done in two passes with botrytis grapes removed. Fermentations run on indigenous yeasts with no additives, the wines aging roughly a year in old oak. Most cuvées are bottled without added sulfur, with at most a pinch after malolactic if needed. Cuvées include Le Pitrouillet, Le Coteau de l'Ayre and Les Petites Combes.
