Jardins de la Martiniere
Coutures, Loire
In the village of Coutures, situated just outside the appellation of Breze in Saumur, winemaker Kaya Tsutsui continues a legacy established by Xavier Caillard of iconic domaine Les Jardins Esmeraldins.
Before the inception of Jardins de la Martiniere, the domaine saw an unusual period of transition. In 2016 Xavier left the domaine abruptly and it took two years before the new owners took on the project, leaving the vines essentially abandoned during that time. With Kaya’s background in importation (having worked with natural winemakers for years via the Japanese import company Nichifutso Shoji), he was able to draw upon experience and connections to negotiate the transition and to establish their domaine in earnest.
To implement their desired low-or-no-till approach, meticulous care was required to reestablish the ecosystems within the vineyards: careful pruning, a gentle turning of the soils in the chenin vineyards to recalibrate the yields, and the sowing of nitrogen-rich legume seeds between the vines. Many of these approaches came off the back of advice from celebrated Rhone winemaker Hirotake Ooka, both a personal friend and former client of Kaya’s.
Today, the domaine is comprised of 5 hectares of vines, all situated on the south-easterly facing slopes that surround the old chateau on the property. Of these vines, cabernet franc represents 85% and chenin blanc only 15%, with an additional hectare replanted with local and more robust Loire varieties. While the parcels are more or less all adjacent, each has its unique features: the small, languid parcel of chenin planted by Xavier is surrounded by trees, the cabernet franc has a small experimental parcel pruned in goblet, another is made up of 70 year old vines.
Like elsewhere in Saumur, the domaine is situated on a bedrock of porous tuffeau, with small pockets of sandstone (both pink and red) and clay found throughout the vineyards. Further along the property line finds the multi-level cellar, carved into the tuffeau and nestled amongst the trees. Grapes enter the cellar on the ground level and undergo their maceration and primary fermentation in fibreglass tanks, after which the juices are moved via gravity to a lower level for the remainder of their maturation in barrique. In keeping with the traditions set in place by Xavier, elevages are long and considered: the first bottling of wines under the Jardins de la Martiniere name was the 2018 vintage, only released in 2023.
