Domaine des Clos Godeaux

The story

A young succession in Chinon

The Brocourt family came from Normandy and established itself at the property during the 1940s. The family connection continued through the following decades. In 1986, Philippe Brocourt took control of the estate at the age of 21, becoming the second-generation winemaker. His succession came after the property had already been part of the family’s life for several decades. The domaine’s vines now extend across five villages within Chinon, but the episode turns on a simple handover: a 21-year-old Philippe Brocourt assumed control in 1986.

From the atlas

Domaine des Clos Godeaux

At A Glance

Domaine des Clos Godeaux is a Chinon estate in France's Loire region, with 32 hectares of vines spread across five villages. Cabernet Franc is the central documented grape, and Les Maupas 2020 is confirmed as 100% Cabernet Franc. Philippe Brocourt has led the estate since taking control at 21 in 1986, carrying a family connection to the property that began in the 1940s.

The Producer

Philippe Brocourt took over the estate in 1986, when he was 21 and already becoming its second generation of family leadership. The domaine now works across five villages within the Chinon appellation, giving its bottles access to gravel plains, clay siliceous ridges and clay limestone slopes. Cabernet Franc sits at the centre of the documented range, with Les Maupas showing the grape through stainless steel, ambient yeasts and fine lees ageing.

The farming is rigorously sustainable, without official organic certification. In the cellar, natural fermentation and limited intervention keep the method focused on the fruit and the vineyard material, while thermoregulated stainless steel vats provide controlled conditions for vinification.

Place

Chinon is the appellation that gathers these vineyards under one name. The estate's five village footprint brings several kinds of ground into that appellation, so a Chinon bottle from this domaine can be read through both its regional label and its individual cuvée. Cabernet Franc is the grape most clearly attached to the range, and the different wines show how the estate works with that grape across varied sites.

The label relationship is straightforward: Chinon names the appellation, Cabernet Franc names the confirmed grape in Les Maupas 2020, and the cuvée name identifies the bottle within the domaine's range.

Soil And Site

The vineyards occupy gravel plains, clay siliceous ridges and clay limestone slopes. These are physical differences across the estate, not named single vineyard claims for individual bottles. They give the range a wider geographic base than a wine drawn from one plot, while the cellar keeps each cuvée's fruit and texture legible.

The available material does not assign Les Maupas, Les Graviers or Les Coteaux to one specific soil type. The useful fact is the spread of ground itself, which places the bottles inside a varied Chinon landscape rather than a single repeated site.

Story

The Brocourt family came from Normandy and established itself at the property during the 1940s. Several decades later, Philippe Brocourt assumed control in 1986 at the age of 21. The estate's present shape follows that succession: a family property working 32 hectares across five villages, with farming that has remained rigorously sustainable for more than 20 years.

The cellar follows the same preference for a light hand. Natural fermentation, ambient yeasts and minimal intervention keep the process close to the wine, while stainless steel and fine lees preserve the fruit led by Cabernet Franc. The family timeline and the cellar choices meet in bottles that foreground grape character instead of adding a heavy oak signature.

Vineyards And Cellar

Sustainable farming is paired with a modern vinification facility containing thermoregulated stainless steel vats. Stainless steel provides the principal documented setting for fermentation, while ambient yeasts carry the natural fermentation described for the estate. Fine lees ageing is used to keep fruit at the centre of the wine, adding a fuller feel without changing the cuvée into an oak driven style.

Oak barrels also form part of the cellar record, and the wines age in tufa cellars. Les Maupas has the most complete documented method: stainless steel fermentation with natural yeasts, fine lees ageing and maturation in tufa. Its fruit forward character follows directly from those choices.

Wines

The range is organised around red Chinon cuvées, with Cabernet Franc clearly confirmed for Les Maupas 2020 and treated as the central grape in the documented portfolio. Les Maupas is the fruit led expression. Its brilliant ruby colour, toasted nut and spice aromas, black pepper, raspberry and black currant lead into a smooth, balanced palate.

Les Graviers brings a sibling reading of the estate, with brilliant ruby colour, red fruit, pepper and warm roasted notes, followed by raspberry and blackcurrant. Les Coteaux carries red cherry, black cassis, peppery spice and dried herbs. The supplied material does not confirm the full grape composition or cellar recipe for either cuvée, so their place in the range rests on their documented taste profiles and their shared Chinon setting.

Together, the bottles move from fresh red fruit and pepper toward darker fruit, roasted notes and dried herbs. The range has variety without losing its Cabernet Franc centre.

In The Glass

The wines begin with ruby colour and red fruit. In Les Maupas, toasted nuts and spice rise first, then black pepper, raspberry and black currant carry through the palate. Stainless steel and fine lees ageing keep the fruit clear, while the smooth, balanced feel leaves a clean peppered finish.

Les Graviers shifts the sequence toward red fruit and warm roasted notes, with pepper running through the middle and raspberry and blackcurrant holding the finish. Les Coteaux moves toward red cherry, black cassis, dried herbs and peppery spice. Across the range, the taste progresses from bright fruit at the opening to darker fruit and savoury notes at the close.

A Bottle To Understand It

Les Maupas 2020 is the right first bottle because its grape, cellar method and taste profile are all documented together. It is 100% Cabernet Franc, fermented in stainless steel with natural yeasts, aged on fine lees and matured in tufa cellars. In the glass, it is brilliant ruby, scented with toasted nuts and spice, then smooth with black pepper, raspberry and black currant. The fine lees and stainless steel keep the fruit forward, so the bottle presents both the grape and the estate's cellar choices in one clear sequence.

Anecdote

The Brocourt family arrived at the property from Normandy during the 1940s and established itself there. Decades later, in 1986, Philippe Brocourt took control of the estate at the age of 21. He became the second generation of the family to lead the domaine, which by then had a history rooted in the property across several decades. His succession placed a young winemaker in charge of an estate whose vines were spread across five villages of the Chinon appellation. The date, the age, the family's journey from Normandy and the handover in 1986 form the complete episode.

Final Word

Domaine des Clos Godeaux brings together a five village Chinon estate, varied ground and a cellar built around natural fermentation, stainless steel and fine lees. Start with Les Maupas 2020 for a direct Cabernet Franc reference, then move to Les Graviers or Les Coteaux to explore the range's red fruit, pepper, darker fruit, roasted notes and dried herbs.

Sources

• https://uvaimports.com/france/domaine-brocourt/
• https://www.soilairselection.com/domaine-des-clos-godon
• https://www.premiercru.co.za/product/chinon-domaine-des-clos-godeaux-les-maupas-2020/?v=edb5dc74af1c
• https://perrineswine.com/products/2021-philippe-brocourt-chinon-les-graviers-loire-valley-france
• https://verrewinebar.com/products/domaine-brocourt-les-coteaux-cabernet-franc
• https://www.saratogawine.com/producer/domaine-des-clos-godeaux/