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2021 Saumur Champigny “Terres Chaudes”
Domaine des Roches Neuves
The appellation of Saumur Champigny, like some of its easterly neighbors in the Touraine, is famed for its white tuffeau limestone along the banks of the Loire—dazzling cellars, châteaux built from their excavation, and, of course, wines. Its wines are red and made from Cabernet Franc, and Thierry has perfected the art of coaxing this grape’s soulfulness and elusive finesse into bottle. This most recently arrived vintage of his signature red is generous, thickly textured, and ready to impress at table.
—Dixon Brooke
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2021 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Cabernet Franc |
Appellation: | Saumur-Champigny |
Country: | France |
Region: | Loire |
Producer: | Thierry Germain |
Winemaker: | Thierry Germain |
Vineyard: | 45 years, 4 ha |
Soil: | Clay, Tuffeau Limestone |
Aging: | Aged on fine lees in 6000L or 1200L foudre for 12 months |
Farming: | Biodynamic (certified) |
Alcohol: | 12.5% |
More from this Producer or Region

2023 Saumur Blanc “L’Insolite”
France | Loire
Made from nearly hundred-year-old vines, this a great initiation into the world of Thierry’s white wines.

2021 Saumur-Champigny “Les Mémoires”
France | Loire
Sourced from 110+ year-old vines, this is hands-down one of the best Cab Francs being made in the Loire Valley today.

2020 Saumur Champigny “La Marginale”
France | Loire
Germain’s reds are grand examples of the heights biodynamic wines can achieve.

2023 Saumur Champigny “Cuvée Domaine”
France | Loire
March Club Rouge ~ The 2023 vintage has its trademark elegance, with notes of blackberries, forest, and graphite.

2020 Saumur Champigny “Outre Terre”
France | Loire
Outre Terre is a tiny production of Cabernet Franc fermented in amphora and aged in barrel.

2022 Saumur Champigny “La Foulée”
France | Loire
Made in a fruit-forward, supple, easy-drinking style with very little added sulfur.

2020 Saumur Blanc “L’Échelier”
France | Loire
This dry Chenin Blanc is etched from the white limestone beneath—crystalline, pure, and chiseled.

2020 Saumur Champigny “Clos de l’Échelier”
France | Loire
Fine, with bright acid, sleek silkiness, and great length, it is the most elegant of all of Thierry’s red wines.

2020 Saumur-Champigny “Les Mémoires”
France | Loire
Sourced from 110+ year-old vines, this is hands-down one of the best Cab Francs being made in the Loire Valley today.

2020 Saumur Blanc “Clos Romans”
France | Loire
Thierry’s Saumur Blancs are bone-dry, high-acid, mineral Chenin Blancs that drink like Chablis young and take on weight slowly over time.
About The Producer
Thierry Germain
Thierry relocated to the Loire from Bordeaux in the early 1990s, and soon fell under the influence of his spiritual father, Charly Foucault of Clos Rougeard. Thierry would ultimately convert his entire domaine to biodynamic viticulture, which was the equivalent of his wine epiphany. Listening and observing his plants, allowing them to guide him, revolutionized his way of thinking. Thierry harvests on the relatively early side to preserve fresh, vibrant fruit. His goal is to produce Cabernet with purity, finesse, and drinkability, while avoiding rusticity, vegetal character, and hard tannins. When it comes to his Chenin, he makes bone dry, high acid, mineral wines that drink like Chablis young and take on weight slowly over time. Aging takes place in large oval foudres (for the whites) and round foudres and demi-muids (for the reds) in Thierry’s frigid tuffeau cellars below his winery in Varrains. His incredibly diverse terroirs are translated with utter clarity and precision.
About The Region
Loire
The defining feature of the Loire Valley, not surprisingly, is the Loire River. As the longest river in France, spanning more than 600 miles, this river connects seemingly disparate wine regions. Why else would Sancerre, with its Kimmeridgian limestone terroir be connected to Muscadet, an appellation that is 250 miles away?
Secondary in relevance to the historical, climatic, environmental, and cultural importance of the river are the wines and châteaux of the Jardin de la France. The kings and nobility of France built many hundreds of châteaux in the Loire but wine preceded the arrival of the noblesse and has since out-lived them as well.
Diversity abounds in the Loire. The aforementioned Kimmderidgian limestone of Sancerre is also found in Chablis. Chinon, Bourgueil, and Saumur boast the presence of tuffeau, a type of limestone unique to the Loire that has a yellowish tinge and a chalky texture. Savennières has schist, while Muscadet has volcanic, granite, and serpentinite based soils. In addition to geologic diversity, many, grape varieties are grown there too: Cabernet Franc, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Melon de Bourgogne are most prevalent, but (to name a few) Pinot Gris, Grolleau, Pinot Noir, Pineau d’Aunis, and Folle Blanche are also planted. These myriad of viticultural influences leads to the high quality production of every type of wine: red, white, rosé, sparkling, and dessert.
Like the Rhône and Provence, some of Kermit’s first imports came from the Loire, most notably the wines of Charles Joguet and Château d’Epiré—two producers who are featured in Kermit’s book Adventures on the Wine Route and with whom we still work today.
More from Loire or France
Vouvray Brut “La Dilettante”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2022 Quincy “Vieilles Vignes”
Domaine Trotereau France | Loire
2023 Sancerre
Daniel Chotard France | Loire
2021 Chinon
Bernard Baudry France | Loire
2016 Chinon “Les Petites Roches” MAGNUM
Charles Joguet France | Loire
2022 Bourgueil “Franc de Pied”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2023 Quincy
Domaine Trotereau France | Loire
2018 Saumur Blanc “Le Clos du Moulin”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2022 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine “Réserve”
Domaine Michel Brégeon France | Loire
2020 Saumur Blanc “L’Échelier”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2023 Coteaux du Loir Blanc
Pascal Janvier France | Loire
2023 Savennières
Château d’Epiré France | Loire
Vouvray Brut “La Dilettante”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2022 Quincy “Vieilles Vignes”
Domaine Trotereau France | Loire
2023 Sancerre
Daniel Chotard France | Loire
2021 Chinon
Bernard Baudry France | Loire
2016 Chinon “Les Petites Roches” MAGNUM
Charles Joguet France | Loire
2022 Bourgueil “Franc de Pied”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2023 Quincy
Domaine Trotereau France | Loire
2018 Saumur Blanc “Le Clos du Moulin”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2022 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine “Réserve”
Domaine Michel Brégeon France | Loire
2020 Saumur Blanc “L’Échelier”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2023 Coteaux du Loir Blanc
Pascal Janvier France | Loire
2023 Savennières
Château d’Epiré France | Loire
Where the newsletter started

Where the newsletter started
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch