2023 Francois Chidaine Montlouis Les Bournais Franc de Pied, Loire Valley

Chidaine’s rare Franc de Pied bottling derives from a tiny parcel (0.2 hectares close to the cliff’s edge) of ungrafted vines in Les Bournais, planted at the same time as the vines that make up the ‘standard’ cuvée. This wine is fascinating to taste alongside its sister wine from grafted vines. It typically offers more depth, finesse and length alongside notes of violet and gunflint that appear in many vintages. It is also more tightly wound, more mineral and ethereal. Chidaine often also finds an alluring bitters-like character in the wine, not apparent in the regular Les Bournais. 

Raised in a second-fill 1200-litre Taransaud foudre, it’s another exceptionally precise and long Chenin Blanc, full of crystallised fruits and textured amplitude. The power and layered density on offer is equally balanced by the wine’s chalky vibration—the kind you might find in a great Blanc de Blancs—that runs the length of the palate and dominates the expansive finish. It’s a reminder of what phylloxera took away from France’s wine culture: a ‘grand cru’ Loire Chenin of unusual intensity and dappled electricity, humming with chalky, limestone drive. This wine still needs time, but it already has so much to say for itself.

François Chidaine Montlouis Les Bournais Franc de Pied is a rare and soulful Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley, crafted from ungrafted vines—franc de pied—planted in one of Montlouis-sur-Loire’s most prized single vineyard sites. This is a wine of purity, depth, and quiet energy, a direct conversation between vine and soil with no filters, both literally and philosophically.

Les Bournais is a celebrated parcel located on a plateau of clay and limestone with a high percentage of tuffeau, the chalky white stone that underpins much of the Loire’s most distinctive whites. Chidaine’s franc de pied vines are grown without rootstock grafting, a rarity in post-phylloxera Europe, which allows for a more direct and unmediated expression of terroir. These vines are fragile, low yielding, and demand careful farming—Chidaine, as always, works biodynamically with no herbicides, pesticides, or synthetic inputs.

Fermentation is slow and spontaneous with indigenous yeasts, and the wine is aged on fine lees in large neutral oak barrels, developing complexity without distraction. No chaptalisation, no manipulation, and often bottled with little or no added sulphur.

In the glass, Les Bournais Franc de Pied is both luminous and restrained. Aromas of white pear, yellow apple, citrus blossom, lanolin, crushed chalk, and a touch of ginger unfold with air. The palate is textured and vibrant, with a fine chalky structure, crystalline acidity, and a long, mineral finish that hums with energy and nerve.

This is not just a Chenin Blanc—it is a rare lens into the old world before phylloxera, a wine of heritage and honesty. Pair it with shellfish, roast chicken with lemon and herbs, or aged goat cheese. It will age gracefully for a decade or more, revealing new layers of complexity with time.