Leo Charruau Cabernet Franc Bullula Pétillant Naturel NV

Leo Charruau is a fan of listening to the terroir and allowing it to guide his practices in the cellar. This intuition, along with his winemaking heritage and hands-on education, has allowed him to build something akin to magic in his new line-up of wines. This Bullula (Latin for “small bubble”) is made of 100% Cabernet Franc grown on slopes overlooking the Loire among clay, silicas, and tuffeau stone subsoils. Coming from 35-year-old vines, the grapes are hand-harvested and whole-bunch pressed before slow, spontaneous fermentation on indigenous yeasts. The wine is then bottled with no added sulphur, and kept unfined and unfiltered, for a pure, fresh, effervescent expression of the grapes and the land they come from.

Leo Charruau is the son of Eric Charruau, of Domaine du Valbrun in Parnay, south of the Loire River near Saumur. Their family has been tending Domaine du Valbrun’s land since 1722 – but in 2021, after a few years working in Bordeaux, Leo acquired 6.5 organic hectares in Parnay to craft his own delightful portfolio of cuvées, vinified in an assortment of vessels, including amphoras, oak barrels, and raw concrete vats. He expertly marries tradition with modernity, and openly embraces a more holistic, eco-friendly way of tending to vines with his organic-certified farm.

From the bottle, Bullula pours a delicate pink salmon color, with swirling, tangy aromas of grapefruit and orange, with a backdrop of lemon thyme herbaceousness. Fine bubbles fill the glass, while flavors of golden raspberries, honeydew melon, sage, and cucumber tap-dance across the tongue, with a salty fruit punch and tropical fruit element on the finish. For the price point, and the efforts taken to create this Pet-Nat, this is delightfully balanced, delicious, and most importantly, highly drinkable stuff! I’ll be popping this open for many a crisp fall evening meal for the foreseeable future – and sincerely advise you to do the same!