Domaine des Baumard is a prestigious Loire estate based at Rochefort-sur-Loire, producing Savennières from Chenin Blanc on the schist and shale slopes above the Loire one of the most structurally demanding and long-lived dry white wine appellations in the world. Jean Baumard was a pioneer of Loire wine quality; Florent Baumard continues the estate. The flagship Clos du Papillon is a single-vineyard Savennières: a bone-dry Chenin with intense mineral tension, saline austerity in youth, and a 1525 year ageing trajectory. The estate also produces Coteaux du Layon, the sweet botrytis-affected Chenin from the south-facing slopes below Rochefort.

Savennières is one of French wine's great under-recognised appellations: bone-dry Chenin Blanc with the weight of structure and complexity of premier cru white Burgundy, at lower price points. Domaine des Baumard's Clos du Papillon demonstrates what extreme Chenin Blanc longevity looks like in a dry context. For programmes wanting to build an aged Loire white wine narrative Savennières as the dry extreme, Coteaux du Layon as the sweet counterpart Domaine des Baumard provides both expressions from one estate.