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Clos du Tue-Boeuf

Thierry and Jean-Marie Puzelat enjoy making wine, which is a good thing as they produce a lot of them, sometimes close to 30 different cuvées a year. They feel so many of their parcels offer something unique worth exploring in its own right. Some of their cuvées are made from rare local varieties on the verge of extinction such as Romarantin, Grolleau and Menu Pineau (a natural mutation of Chenin Blanc). Wines made from these grapes rarely gain AOC recognition and so are labelled Vin De France, one of the biggest disappointments of modern winemaking laws. Their cuvée 'Brin de Chèvre' was born from a very poor piece of land which goats used to graze on, eating the straw growing there. Thierry and Jean-Marie realized it would be ideal to plant vines, as the roots would be forced to dig deeper and deeper to find nutrients. The Puzelat brothers are purists until the end and don't add anything to their wines, safe for a minuscule amount of So2 at bottling.