{"title":"Francois Blanchard","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrancois Blanchard came to wine the long way around, touring France as a professional jazz musician before returning to the family land in the Loire to make some of Touraine's most singular natural wines.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBlanchard is a fifth-generation member of a Loire winegrowing family based at Chateau du Perron, just outside the village of Lemere, about forty minutes south of Tours. After years working as a jazz musician in Tours, he returned to the vines and made his first real vintage in 2003, devoting himself fully to natural wine, organic farming and a holistic way of living.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMore on how they farm and work in the cellar in our \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/natural-wine-producers-primal-wine\/francois-blanchard\"\u003eFrancois Blanchard producer profile\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"a-labordage-francois-blanchard-natural-wine","title":"Francois Blanchard A l'Abordage! 2019","description":"\u003cp\u003eA l'Abordage! is 100% direct-press Sauvignon Blanc from François Blanchard's Le Grand-Cléré vineyard in Lémeré, a village roughly 40 minutes south of Tours. The grapes are pressed immediately without skin contact, fermented with native yeasts, and aged entirely in stainless steel. No sulfites are added at any stage, and the wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered. Residual CO2 may cause light refermentation in the bottle — open and drink promptly.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLe Grand-Cléré is a single parcel of roughly 3 hectares situated at approximately 110 meters elevation, one of the higher points on the Touraine plateau. The soils are firm clay studded with very large fragments of silex — flint too dense to plow mechanically. The Sauvignon Blanc vines are around 50 years old. Blanchard farms the site organically, certified by Ecocert, and is a member of Vins S.A.I.N.S. The parcel is managed as a permaculture system with fruit trees, natural ground cover, and no synthetic inputs.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBecause the wine does not conform to AOC Touraine regulations, it is labeled Vin de France. The direct-press approach gives A l'Abordage! a lighter, fresher profile than Blanchard's skin-contact cuvée A Table!, with silex-driven minerality and bright citrus character up front. Production is very small and the wine moves quickly.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Francois Blanchard","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":37896582168775,"sku":"BLANABOR19C","price":37.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0019\/3363\/9735\/products\/francois-blanchard-a-l_abordage-natural-wine-primal-wine.jpg?v=1780186581"},{"product_id":"la-presse-francois-blanchard-natural-wine","title":"Francois Blanchard La Presse 2019","description":"\u003cp\u003eLa Presse is an equal-parts blend of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from La Grand-Cléré, a remote, wooded parcel a short drive from François Blanchard's Château du Perron in Lémeré, Touraine. The vines are roughly fifty years old and grow over firm clay soils studded with large fragments of silex. The wine is bottled as Vin de France.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor the 2019, the grapes were fermented together as whole bunches for approximately one month before spending a year at rest in cuve. No sulfites were added at any stage, and the wine is unfined and unfiltered. The extended whole-bunch maceration gives the wine firm but integrated tannins and a lifted aromatic profile of dark fruit, earth, and pepper.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLa Grand-Cléré has been farmed organically for over two decades. Blanchard intercepts fruit trees throughout the rows and encourages maximum biodiversity, resulting in very low yields and concentrated fruit. The property totals around twenty hectares, but only four are planted to vines, with three of those in La Grand-Cléré.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Francois Blanchard","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":37896770453703,"sku":"BLANPRES19C","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0019\/3363\/9735\/products\/francois-blanchard-la-presse-natural-wine-primal-wine.jpg?v=1780186578"},{"product_id":"voila-francois-blanchard-natural-wine","title":"Francois Blanchard Voilà... 2019","description":"\u003cp\u003eVoilà... is 100% Sauvignon Blanc from Le Grand-Cléré, a single-block vineyard on a windswept plateau in Lémeré, Touraine, about 15 km southwest of Chinon and 40 minutes south of Tours. The vines are roughly 50 years old, planted over firm clay studded with large fragments of silex at around 110 meters elevation. Yields are very low and the site is farmed organically, with no plowing, cover crops left under the rows, and horses used when conditions allow.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 2019 fruit was picked at full maturity and pressed directly to old oak barrels, where the wine aged for two years. No sulfites were added at any stage and the wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered. The extended élevage in neutral wood gives the wine an oxidative character alongside its ripe fruit, with notes of honey, stone fruit, nuts, and a saline edge. A small residual sugar can trigger slight refermentation in bottle, so it is best enjoyed promptly after opening.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrançois Blanchard bottles his wines under Vin de France, giving him freedom to work across his parcels without AOC constraints. Production is tiny and allocations are limited each year.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Francois Blanchard","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":37896779137223,"sku":"BLANSAUV19C","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0019\/3363\/9735\/products\/francois-blanchard-voila-natural-wine-primal-wine.jpg?v=1630819954"},{"product_id":"a-table-francois-blanchard-natural-wine","title":"Francois Blanchard A Table! 2019","description":"\u003cp\u003eA Table! is Francois Blanchard's skin-contact Sauvignon Blanc from La Grand-Cléré, a single parcel in Lémeré, roughly 40 km south of Tours in the Loire Valley. The vines are approximately 50 years old, planted in firm clay soils heavily littered with silex. The wine is bottled as Vin de France, as the extended maceration takes it outside the parameters of any local AOC.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe grapes are destemmed and macerated on their skins for the full duration of alcoholic fermentation — typically one to two months in a cold cellar. The juice is then pressed slowly and transferred to neutral oak barrels for elevage. No sulfites are added at any stage, and the wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the glass, A Table! pours a deep hazy amber-orange. Expect dried apricot, orange peel, quince, and saline mineral notes on the nose and palate, with the textured tannin and high-toned acidity you'd expect from a month-plus of skin contact on Sauvignon Blanc. The wine shifts and opens considerably over an hour in the glass.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBlanchard has farmed La Grand-Cléré organically for over two decades, with a focus on permaculture and biodiversity. Fruit trees grow among the vines, horses work the land, and the large silex fragments make mechanical soil turning impossible. Production is tiny and the wine sells out quickly each vintage.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Francois Blanchard","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":37896827011271,"sku":"BLANTABL19C","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0019\/3363\/9735\/products\/francois-blanchard-boisson-vivante-natural-wine-primal-wine.jpg?v=1780186571"}],"url":"https:\/\/primalwine.com\/collections\/francois-blanchard.oembed","provider":"Primal Wine","version":"1.0","type":"link"}