thumbnail photo by Yohanne Lamoulère

I’ve always been fascinated by the name, "Clos du Tue-Boeuf," which literally translates to “the enclosure of the cow-killing,” because of the jarring contrast between the violent act described by the domaine’s name and the friendly, at times ethereal, sensibility of the wines. The iconic label—a primitive painting of a flying cow, obscure and hazily totemic—has been for me an imaginary portal to a world where the rites of sacrifice intimately connected the daily work of self-preservation with nascent acts of aesthetic production, when humans began to first distance nature and wrest from it fragmentary objects of beauty. Perhaps because of this rich invention of the domaine’s pre-history, I’ve never actually asked how the winery got its name or why the Puzelat brothers chose this label design.

In the early-nineties, Jean-Marie and Thierry Puzelat took over their family domaine in Cheverny, converted the farming to organic, and began making wines with native yeast and low or no sulphur additions. Three decades later and Clos du Tue-Boeuf is the definitive natural wine estate in the Loire Valley, if not all of France. Jean-Marie retired a few years ago and Thierry has recently been joined by his daughter Zoé. They now farm 14 hectares of vines, which include an array of endemic varieties like Fié Gris and Menu Pineau, alongside massale selections of Gamay, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and others. It’s hard to summarize wines as diverse and numerous as those made by Thierry and Zoé; but in the context of a shop like ours, which relishes in experimentation and discovery, the wines feel grounded and self-assured, the work of someone who has listened to his mentors as much as his intuition over the course of thirty vintages. For me personally, they define a nexus between an earnest respect for terroir, maximum drinkability and what I can only describe as a mystical mediation between the primal and the aesthetic. They please both body and mind in equal measure.

The 2020 vintage is a particularly exciting release, as it includes all three of Thierry’s Cheverny Rouge lieu-dits: Rouillon, Caillère and Gravotte. This is the first time we’ve had all three in the shop, and they are among my favorite wines in the world. If you can manage to put them in your cellar, they will repay many times over—though they will also accompany this current transition to fall with an amplitude of grace. We also have an array of the white wines, including the new Gravotte Blanc. All the whites are whole-cluster pressed (2/3 immediately and 1/3 with a short maceration) and then aged for some length of time in old barrels. The reds are fermented whole cluster for 10-14 days, then pressed and allowed to finish fermentation in large vats before being aged in old Burgundy barrels. There are more details on each of the wines below.

Vin Rosé. Gamay sourced from friends in the Loire and the Beaujolais. $20
Le Brin de Chèvre. Menu Pineau from vines up to 70-years-old. $38
Petite Buisson. Sauvignon Blanc from 35-40 year-old vines on flinty soils. $26
Le Buisson Pouilleux. Sauvignon Blanc from 50-70 year-old-vines. The clay-based soils are gravelly and rich in limestone and flint. $35
Cheverny Blanc Gravotte. A brand new wine, made from 70% Fie Gris and 30% Chardonnay, from the enclosed Gravotte site. $39
Pineau de la Loire. Chenin Blanc sourced from a nearby friend. $30
Pineau d’Aunis. Sourced from their neighbor Válerie Forgues’ 100+ year old vines of this beloved grape. $35
Cheverny Rouge Rouillon. Half Gamay, half Pinot Noir, from younger vines planted on rusty red (rouillon) soils. $30
Cheverny Rouge Caillère. Pinot Noir planted on clay and limestone soils—the parcel takes its name from caillasse, meaning "hard rocks.” $39
Cheverny Rouge Gravotte. Mostly Pinot Noir with a dash of Gamay, the name of this site translates to “little gravelly one,” referencing the flint and limestone rocks in the clay soils. $39

If you would like to purchase, or have any questions, please reply to this email, or call us at 773-360-8365. You can also continue ordering curated mix-packs on the Online Store. Or just swing on by the shop!