Château Cheval Blanc CFO appointed estate director at Domaine Beauséjour

Speaking to the drinks business yesterday, Laforcade said simply that the appointment had come about through pure serendipity and “it was one of the only places that I could leave Cheval Blanc for.”

Laforcade, who will take up the role in September, along with the role of sales and finance director of sister estate, cult Anjou winery, Domaine Belargus, already knew owner Ivan Massonnat, and approached him to talk about his own dream of establishing a small domaine in Chinon.

“I wanted a small wine estate, of red wine, in Chinon – it’s a piece of terroir, latitude, and culture of the wines- including Cabernet Franc that I love,” he explained. “I gave Ivan a call and asked him how he did it, had he any advice and we started to discuss [the region] and then came the lightbulb.”

Massonnat, picks up the tale, noting that it was “at precisely the time we were starting to think about who could take Beauséjour to the next stage,” he recalls. “It felt like more than coincidence.”

“Having known Arnaud for years, “the lightbulb went off when I listened to a podcast he was on. I knew this guy was good, but hadn’t realised how like-minded we were. I thought it would be a dream, as he has the dream job in the Bordeaux”

New beginnings

The appointment comes at a key moment for the domaine, five years after Massonnat acquired it and a year before the release of its first wines in 2027 (from the 2023 vintage).

Massonnat, whose family has been rooted near Chinon for 20 years, first inquired about purchasing Domaine Beauséjour more than a decade ago when he first solidified him winemaking ambitions following a successful career in technology and finance. However, the opportunity didn’t come to fruition, and instead of contenting himself with a different estate in Chinon (it was Beausejour or nothing!) he turned to Anjou and created Domaine Belargus in 2018.

However, as luck would have it, the Chauveau family, who had owned the estate since 1951, came back to Massonnat  in 2021 and he was finally able to buy the estate and start planning its renaissance.

Exceptional terroir

It was, he said, “an exceptional domaine” – a single location vineyard set within a 100ha estate that includes troglodyte caves, 15ha of forest and 20ha of meadows, in addition to the 20ha of 60-year-old Cabernet Franc vines.

“The terroir was more exceptional that we imagined,” he explains, so rather than rushing in, he decided instead to time to reveal the terroir and better understand the site. The team embarked on a soil and extensive terroir study, transferring to organic production (the first vintage certified organic was 2023), undertaking a comprehensive restructure of both the vineyard and the cellar, micro-vinifying each of the 25 subplots.

“For the last five years there’s been no need to sell the wines but instead we need to understand the site,” he said.

At the time of Lafourcade’s fateful phone call, the technical team was firmly in place, including dynamic young winemaker Sarah de Mianville, but “what was missing is the person that would help me steer the property and push it to the next chapter, which opens it to the world,” Massonnat told the drinks business. “I needed a like-minded, passionate partner and one that is convinced that Cabernet Franc is the next big wave in the Loire. Only one name came to mind.”

Realising Chinon’s potential

The two share a long-held belief in the potential of the Chinon appellation, particularly for its red wines. As climate changes take effect and tastes move towards freshness and balance, Chinon’s expression of Cabernet Franc – elegant, light, and expressive of its terroir – is “more pertinent than ever” he said.

“We will have to work on it, but we have the cornerstone in place.”

“Chinon as a home to Cabernet Franc, and the wines can be as good as the best Burgundy, Piedmont and Bordeaux,” Massonat added. It is not about copying Bordeaux or Burgundy but “showing the full potential of the Loire, and of the Cabernet Franc and showing what it can be”.

It has taken a few years to define the range of five different cuvées, which are all blends rather than a single plot. “We really wanted to leave no door untouched and explore all avenues of how we express the 25 plots in the range?” he said. The idea is to explore Beauséjour in the five cuvées which range from a Rosso-inspired blend at the lower end, which will be released with three years of ageing, to the top expression, which comes from the best plots, and are aged for five years in foudres and barrels.

Currently there is something of a mismatch “between us and the market” he said, but this is purely “a perception issue” and one that is already shifting. He points to Anjou as a parallel. “Anjou was a dirty word ten years ago, producers would say they were from Saumur, but now they proud to be in Anjou, and promoting this region.”

He noted that in recent years, several estates had been acquired by outsiders or investors, indicating that “things are starting to move in Chinon – and when lots of things happen at the same time, it probably means the timing is right.”

“We think we’re near that turning point and that people will start to appreciate Chinon,” he said.