There is nothing immediately striking about the vineyards of Chinon. Row after row of vines gently rise from the river plain of the Vienne, a tributary to the Loire, and creep up toward chalky white cliffs topped with a densely wooded plateau. But this unassuming landscape is home to a whole universe of Cabernet Franc, where growers like Matthieu Baudry coax myriad delightful styles of wine from a single grape variety.
     Matthieu’s father, Bernard, got started in 1975 with just two hectares of vines, and as he gradually grew his holdings, he realized the true value of the riches lying under his feet. The incredible diversity of soil types over a small distance meant endless potential to craft a thrilling lineup of terroir-driven wines, and Bernard soon became a specialist in this soil-based approach to Chinon, along with other pioneers like his contemporary Charles Joguet. Matthieu joined his father’s domaine in 2000 and soon converted the vineyards to organic, aiming to foster biodiversity and minimize treatments so as to further enforce the expression of terroir through the lens of their parcel-by-parcel vinifications.
     If Chinon’s grandest wines come from the upper slopes, where tuffeau limestone yields Cabernet Franc with deep flavors, a firm structure, and a remarkable capacity for aging, the appellation’s most charming bottlings come from the flatter river banks covered in alluvial sand and gravels. The Baudrys source their cuvée Les Granges from such loose, well-draining soils, whose tendency to warm up quickly in sunny weather favors ripening and avoids any of the austere, vegetal notes for which Cabernet is infamous.
     What Les Granges lacks in tannic structure, it makes up for in irresistible fruit and heady floral aromas. This is Loire Cabernet in its purest form, low in alcohol but high in perfume, which the Baudrys harness through low-intervention techniques like aging only in concrete and bottling unfiltered with barely any sulfur. That suave, silky texture is a delight when it swishes over the palate, especially when matched to a simple meal from fresh ingredients. A cool glass of this cuvée proves that magic is not just in the air, but in Chinon, it’s also in the soil.

If you’ve had a wine from Clos Canarelli, then you are already familiar with the work of Antoine Pouponneau, a key player for years at southern Corsica’s all-star domaine. Recently, Antoine and his wife, Alice, founded their very own domaine in their native Anjou based on the same biodynamic, low-intervention principles that led Antoine to success at Canarelli. The difference is that here they farm old-vine Grolleau and Cabernet Franc on a sunny, fossil-laden slope overlooking the Loire’s placid waters. This terroir, where Alice used to play as a girl, produces a dense, dark, and chiseled red that stands apart from lighter, funkier expressions of Grolleau. The rich blackberry fruit and chewy tannin will match nicely with wild mushrooms, earthy braises, and game birds.

The Breton family is perhaps best known for its rock ’n’ roll natural wines, raucous parties, and generally freewheeling attitude. But for all the influence Catherine and Pierre have had in the Loire Valley pioneering progressive farming practices and creating unsulfured vins de soif, they also hold a deep affinity for the region’s more classic styles produced from its noblest terroirs. Cabernet Franc planted in 1920 on a chalky tuffeau slope yields the family’s grandest wine, a brooding elixir of satiny fruit, cedar, and graphite built to please now and over the very long term.