Julie and Toby Bainbridge — Steven Graf Wine

Julie & Toby Bainbridge
Chavagnes-Les-Eaux

Toby and Julie are incredible friends who have the most kind and endearing spirit of anyone I know. They are honest, hardworking, winemakers who look at their trade with the patience and serenity of a master craftsman, and the humbleness and tenacity of your neighborhood milkman. Toby's an ex-pat from the UK, and Julie found him working on a harvest crew in Protection, Kansas. After a long courtship they have settled in Anjou with their two young children. In the early 2000s, Toby started working with Didier Chaffardon and the couple made their first wine in 2007, the same year they gave birth to their first son. In 2012, after a few years under the tutelage and employ of René Mosse, Toby and Julie went out on their own and started full-time production on their eponymous domaine. Approximately 6.5 hectares of their 8ha are currently under vine with drought resistant soil, rich in calcium.

Toby and Julie really seem to be settling into their small, family estate, and it's beginning to feel very well oiled. Naturally, extra curricular activities are being worked in. The topic of much conversation and instagramming were Toby's new sheep -- a project he seems quite pleased with. "I've always wanted a passion outside of my profession -- a hobby," he told us, and maybe shepherding is going to be that fit. Of course, the sheep are really just another aspect of the viticulture. The sheep are essentially wooly lawnmowers that trim the herbs between the vines. Otherwise, there are plans for olive trees and fruit trees. All their vineyards are worked organically. They focus on wines for drinking: fresh, bright and natural. In the cellar, macerations are generally short and neutral vessels are always used, whether fiberglass or stainless steel.

2022

Vdf “Odette” 2022
**VARIETY:** Chenin Blanc
**TERROIR:**
Coteaux plots. Dominated by iron rich sands, the soils are very red. There is lots of quartz in evidence too. For 3 years now, sheep run through the vines over winter to combat erosion and keep the ground mangeable come spring. They plough 100% as soils are very infertile, but stop working the soils earlier to keep the ground temps down as much as possible. Vines from the 1980s.
Certified organic
**HARVEST:** hand picked
**VINIFICATION:**
A topped up barrel of jongleurs. Fermentation in tank then transferred to the barrel, all done by gravity. A mix of all the plots, directly pressed. Vines from 4yrs to 65yrs old. No filtration. 12°abv 30mg/l total SO2. Malolactic.

Vdf "Jongleurs" 2022
**VARIETY:** Chenin Blanc
**TERROIR:**
Coteaux plots. Dominated by iron rich sands, the soils are very red. There is lots of quartz in evidence too. For 3 years now, sheep run through the vines over winter to combat erosion and keep the ground mangeable come spring. They plough 100% as soils are very infertile, but stop working the soils earlier to keep the ground temps down as much as possible. Vines from the 1980s.
Certified organic
**HARVEST:** hand picked
**VINIFICATION:**
Direct press into fiberglass.

Vdf “Champ de Croix” 2022
**VARIETY:** Pinot Noir
**TERROIR:**
Black schist and limestone bedrock.
Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils.
6 year old vines. Less than 1 hectare plot.
Certified organic
**HARVEST:** hand picked
**VINIFICATION:** Short maceration.
2022 was a very hot/dry year for Anjou. A lot of fruit from the Pinot was dropped to give the young vines a chance. Champ de la Croix is a sand/gravel plot which drains very freely. The young vines had a hard time with their weaker root systems. The whole clusters were macerated for about 2 weeks without any intervention.
Fermented quickly, malo, into a barrel. Topped up regularly with grolleau. The wine was in barrel for a year before bottling without filtration. 11.5°abv 19mg/l SO2 .

Vdf “Crush” 2022
**VARIETY:** Grolleau
**TERROIR:**
Black schist bedrock.
Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils.
Certified organic
**VINIFICATION:**
De-stemmed
3 day maceration
6 months élevage in stainless / fiberglass.

Vdf "Rouge aux Lèvres" 2022
**VARIETY:** Grolleau
**TERROIR:**
Black schist bedrock.
Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils.
Vines from the 1980s.
Potentially some of the first Grolleau vines planted. Certified organic
**VINIFICATION:**
Whole cluster carbonic maceration 2 weeks with no punch down or top off
Elevage into fiberglass / stainless tank

Vdf “Highway 8” 2022
**VARIETY:** Cabernet Franc
**TERROIR:** Black schist bedrock. Vines from the 1980s. Certified organic
**HARVEST:** machine harvested
**VINIFICATION:**
From the deep soils of Chavagnes. No stress for this cabernet that was picked by machine. Our harvest team was starting to fall apart and was taking the piss.
Individual berries macerated in closed tanks without intervention. Fermentation/malo a dream and then the wine went into 50% barrels and 50% concrete for a year before assemblage. 13° abv 13mg/l SO2.
Semi-carbonic maceration
Unfined, unfiltered.

2021

**VARIETY:** Chenin Blanc
**TERROIR:**
Black schist and limestone bedrock.
Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils.
Vines from the 1980s.
Certified organic
**HARVEST:** hand picked
**VINIFICATION:**
Direct press into fiberglass / stainless tank aged in barrel. A topped up barrel for the first year, the second left to its own devises for the second year. One barrel, all done by gravity. Fermentation in tank then transferred to barrel. Mostly grapes from a plot of young planted in Bonnezeaux. No filtration.13° abv 20mg/l total SO2. Malolactic.

Vdf "Girl on Fire" 2021 rosé
**VARIETY:** Sparkling Cab Franc
**TERROIR:**
Black schist bedrock.
Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils.
Certified organic.
**HARVEST:** hand picked and team led by Julie.
**VINIFICATION:**
Méthode Ancestrale.
Direct press into fiberglass / stainless tank. Fermented and stabilized over winter. A week before bottling some frozen juice which was separated before fermentation is bottled and added to the wine for its second fermentation.

Vdf "Acrobate" rosé 2021
**VARIETY:** Grolleau
**TERROIR:**
Black schist bedrock.
Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils.
Certified organic.
**HARVEST:** hand picked
**VINIFICATION:**
Direct press into fiberglass / stainless tank.

Vdf “Highway.8” 2021
**VARIETY:** Cabernet Franc
**TERROIR:** Black schist bedrock. Vines from the 1980s. Certified organic
**HARVEST:** hand picked
**VINIFICATION:**
Semi-carbonic maceration aged in 400L barrels.

Vdf "Jongleurs" 2021
**VARIETY:** Chenin Blanc
**TERROIR:**
Black schist bedrock.
Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils.
Vines from the 1980s.
Certified organic
**HARVEST:** hand picked
**VINIFICATION:**
Direct press into fiberglass / stainless tank

Vdf "Rouge aux Lèvres" 2021
**VARIETY:** Grolleau
**TERROIR:**
Black schist bedrock.
Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils.
Vines from the 1980s.
Potentially some of the first Grolleau vines planted. Certified organic
**VINIFICATION:**
Partial carbonic maceration for a couple of days with no punch down or top off
Elevage into fiberglass / stainless tank

2020

Vdf “Crush” 2020 VARIETY: Grolleau TERROIR: Black schist bedrock. Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils. Certified organicHARVEST: hand pickedVINIFICATION: De-stemmed 3 day maceration 6 months élevage in stainless / fiberglass. — Vdf “Crush” 2020
**VARIETY:** Grolleau
**TERROIR:**
Black schist bedrock.
Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils.
Certified organic
**HARVEST:** hand picked
**VINIFICATION:**
De-stemmed
3 day maceration
6 months élevage in stainless / fiberglass.

Vdf “Les Jongleurs” 2020 VARIETY: Chenin BlancTERROIR: Black schist bedrock. Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils. Vines from the 1980s.  Certified organicHARVEST: hand pickedVINIFICATION:  Direct press into fiberglass / stainless tank — Vdf “Les Jongleurs” 2020
**VARIETY:** Chenin Blanc
**TERROIR:**
Black schist bedrock.
Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils.
Vines from the 1980s.
Certified organic
**HARVEST:** hand picked
**VINIFICATION:**
Direct press into fiberglass / stainless tank

Vdf “Johnny Popper” 2020 VARIETY: Sparkling Chenin Blanc TERROIR: Black schist bedrock. Iron rich, sandy soils. A mixture of old vines and new vines planted in 2017.  Certified organic.HARVEST: hand pickedVINIFICATION: Méthode Ancestral — Vdf “Johnny Popper” 2020
**VARIETY:** Sparkling Chenin Blanc
**TERROIR:**
Black schist bedrock.
Iron rich, sandy soils. A mixture of old vines and new vines planted in 2017.
Certified organic.
**HARVEST:** hand picked
**VINIFICATION:** Méthode Ancestrale

Vdf “Cuvée 50 : 50” 2020VARIETY: Grolleau / Cab FrancTERROIR: Black schist bedrock. Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils. Certified organic.HARVEST: hand picked VINIFICATION: Co-fermented De-stemmed Short maceration 8-10 days in fiberglass — Vdf “Cuvée 50 : 50” 2020
**VARIETY:** Grolleau / Cab Franc
**TERROIR:**
Black schist bedrock.
Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils.
Certified organic.
**HARVEST:** hand picked
**VINIFICATION:**
Co-fermented
De-stemmed
Short maceration 8-10 days in fiberglass

Vdf “Rouge aux Lèvres” 2020 VARIETY: GrolleauTERROIR: Black schist bedrock. Black schist bedrock. Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils. Vines from the 1980s. Potentially some of the first Grolleau vines planted. Certified organicVINIFICATION: Partial carbonic maceration for a couple of days with no punch down or top off Elevage into fiberglass / stainless tank — Vdf “Rouge aux Lèvres” 2020
**VARIETY:** Grolleau
**TERROIR:** Black schist bedrock.
Black schist bedrock.
Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils.
Vines from the 1980s. Potentially some of the first Grolleau vines planted. Certified organic
**VINIFICATION:**
Partial carbonic maceration for a couple of days with no punch down or top off
Elevage into fiberglass / stainless tank

2019

Vdf “Cuvée la Danseuse” 2019VARIETY: Sparkling Grolleau RoséTERROIR : Black schist bedrock. Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils. Vines from the 1980s.  Certified organicVINIFICATION : Méthode champenoise No dosage Saignée from the Rouge aux Lèvres ferment Disgorged following spring after harvest — Vdf “Cuvée la Danseuse” 2019
**VARIETY:** Sparkling Grolleau Rosé
**TERROIR :**
Black schist bedrock.
Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils.
Vines from the 1980s.
Certified organic
**VINIFICATION :**
Méthode champenoise
No dosage
Saignée from the Rouge aux Lèvres ferment Disgorged following spring after harvest.

Vdf “Cuvée Rouge aux Lèvres” 2019VARIETY: GrolleauTERROIR: Black schist bedrock. Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils. Vines from the 1980s. Potentially some of the first Grolleau vines planted. Certified organicVINIFICATION: Partial carbonic maceration for a couple of days with no punch down or top off Elevage into fiberglass / stainless tank — Vdf “Cuvée Rouge aux Lèvres” 2019
**VARIETY:** Grolleau
**TERROIR:**
Black schist bedrock.
Iron and calcium rich, sandy soils.
Vines from the 1980s.
Potentially some of the first Grolleau vines planted. Certified organic
**VINIFICATION:**
Partial carbonic maceration for a couple of days with no punch down or top off
Elevage into fiberglass / stainless tank

2018

Pet’ Nat “Cuvée La Danseuse” 2018 VARIETY: Grolleau, roséTERROIR : Black schist bedrock. Vines from the 1980s. Certified organicVINIFICATION : Méthode champenoise No dosage Saignée from the Rouge aux Lèvres ferment Disgorged following spring a… — Pet’ Nat “Cuvée La Danseuse” 2018
**VARIETY:** Grolleau, rosé
**TERROIR :** Black schist bedrock. Vines from the 1980s. Certified organic
**VINIFICATION :**
Méthode champenoise
No dosage
Saignée from the Rouge aux Lèvres ferment Disgorged following spring after harvest

Vdf “Cuvée 50 : 50” 2018 VARIETY: Grolleau / Cab FrancTERROIR: black schist HARVEST: hand picked VINIFICATION: Co fermented Destemed Short maceration 8-10 days in fiberglass — Vdf “Cuvée 50 : 50” 2018
**VARIETY:** Grolleau / Cab Franc
**TERROIR:** black schist
**HARVEST:** hand picked
**VINIFICATION:**
Co fermented
Destemed
Short maceration 8-10 days in fiberglass

Julie & Toby Bainbridge Chavagnes-Les-Eaux