Clos du Tue-Bœuf - Zoé, Louise and Thierry Puzelat.

Indeed, the first traces of this eleven-and-a-half-acre vineyard (barely six hectares), located in the locality of Tue-Bœuf, in the commune of Les Montils, date back to the Middle Ages. History recounts that the wines produced at Tue-Bœuf graced the royal tables and that Francis I and Queen Claude were particularly fond of them. There are also mentions of this vineyard during the reign of Henry III. Furthermore, the Puzelat family (formerly "Puzelatz"), present in Les Montils since the 15th century, could well be linked to this ancestral know-how…

Because, as far as anyone can remember, the Puzelat ancestors were always farmers, mixed crop growers and winegrowers. It was Jean and Solange Puzelat who took over the Tue-Bœuf estate from Jean's parents in 1947, at that time still mixed farming (vines, asparagus, strawberries, cereals, livestock…), to convert it into a full-fledged vineyard in the 1970s.   Of their children, Jean-Marie and Thierry succeeded them, after having explored the vineyards, each on their own, in France and abroad.

Jean-Marie was the first to take the plunge, in 1989 , and joined Thierry in 1994. With this new generation, the estate modernized and expanded: the historic Clos des Montils was soon complemented by new plots located on the Monthou-sur-Bièvre plateau, two kilometers away. In 2004, following meetings in Catalonia and then Georgia, Jean-Marie and Thierry decided to establish an import business to help other winemakers around the world gain visibility in France. When Jean-Marie retired in January 2019, Thierry's daughter, Zoé , returned full-time to the family winery; followed by Louise a year later. Today, Clos du Tue-Bœuf is first and foremost Zoé, Louise, and Thierry Puzelat , but also all the people who work year-round and seasonally at the estate .

Between Touraine and Cheverny

Straddling the Touraine and Cheverny appellations, Clos du Tue Bœuf produces wines solely under the Cheverny appellation. The plots located within the Touraine appellation now produce Vin de France wines .

The Tue-Bœuf vineyard is divided into two parts:

• 11.2 ha in the commune of Les Montils comprising the historic Clos du Tue-Bœuf: 9.5 in AOC Cheverny (Pinot Noir, Gamay, Sauvignon blanc, Fié gris, Chardonnay, Orbois) as well as 1.70 ha in Vin de France (Romorantin, Pineau d'Aunis, Pinot gris);
• And 3.25 ha in the commune of Monthou-sur-Bièvre , a neighbouring village, in Vin de France (Côt, Pineau d'Aunis, Gamay, Meslier, Sauvignon blanc, Orbois).

Clos du Tue Bœuf is unique in that it sits on a terroir of flinty clay over Blois chalk , on south/southeast-facing slopes overlooking the Beuvron River. Romorantins, located slightly further out, is planted on sandy soil. On the Monthou plateau, Brin de Chèvre and Guerrerie are situated on flinty clay soils, while Buisson Pouilleux and Petit Buisson are planted on sandy soils with gravel.

Isolated from other agricultural areas, the Tue Bœuf vineyards are nestled within a mosaic of fallow land and woods that maintain a balanced ecosystem . The age of the vines varies from one place to another, but ranges from 1 to 115 years, with a majority of vines originating from the vineyard renewal project established in the 1960s by Jean and Solange, in order to transition from plowing with horses to mechanization.

Planting density is also closely linked to this process: Clos du Tue-Bœuf is planted at 4,500 vines per hectare, while on the Monthou plateau, the density is higher: 6,500 to 7,500 vines per hectare. We supplement our tractor-based soil work with animal traction, which allows for better control of plowing in the high-density vineyards and, systematically, in the old vines.

Each individual plot is vinified separately, in order to represent the wine of that place; that is to say, by harvesting an entire plot, without subdividing the harvest according to grape varieties. Thus, each year, 13 cuvées from a single plot or geological unit are produced.

A trading structure

In the vineyards, the increasingly frequent frost complicates vineyard work by tiring the vines and reducing plant material and yields, which prompted us to create a trading structure in 2003. The project of this structure allows us to continue to produce wine by blending it with our grapes in some cases (Pineau d'Aunis…), as well as by trying the vinification of new grape varieties (Aligoté in 2018).

In parallel, the winery also receives grapes purchased on the vine from winegrowers in the Cher valley in order to produce generic wines (White Wine, Red Wine and Rosé Wine) which are drunk in their early youth expressing the fruit: simple and honest wines, in the trajectory of a philosophy of thirst-quenching wines.

Organic and natural wines

Because being a farmer means having an ecological responsibility, Jean-Marie and Thierry Puzelat converted the estate to organic viticulture as early as 1996.
And because being a winemaker means offering unique and digestible natural wines, since 1994, winemaking has been carried out without oenological artifice.

The grapes are harvested by hand to ensure only healthy, ripe fruit is selected. No additives are used during the winemaking process. Only a very small amount of sulfites may be added at bottling.
Conducted without the addition of yeasts, the winemaking process is quite lengthy. Aging in barrels allows the wine to refine and separate naturally.
Only wines aged in stainless steel tanks may be lightly filtered. Wines aged in conical tanks and barrels are bottled unfiltered.

For the Puzelat family, winemaking means positioning themselves as intermediaries between the soil and the glass of wine. It means valuing the diversity of their plots. It means imprinting the character of the terroir and the vintage. It means offering wines that express the place they come from and the climate that gave them birth.

🍋 White wines:

🏷️ Cheverny

Cold-sensitive:

• Area: 3.8 ha (+ 70 ares planted in 2019 and 25 ares planted in 2020)
• Soils: flinty clay
• Grape varieties: 1/3 Sauvignon, 1/3 Fié gris, 1/3 Chardonnay
• Age: Vines from 4 to 52 years old
• Average yield: 35 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: 8 months in large oak casks, demi-muids and Burgundian barrels (90%), and in sandstone amphorae (10%)

Gravotte Blanc:

• Area: 0.85 ha
• Soils: flinty clay on chalk
• Grape varieties: 65% Fié Gris, 35% Chardonnay
• Vine age: 20 to 55 years
• Average yield: 35 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: 8 months in demi-muids and Burgundy barrels

🏷️ French Wine:

The Goat's Strand:

• Area: 1.4 ha
• Soils: flinty clay, sand, and gravel
• Grape varieties: Menu Pineau
• Vine age: 7 to 80 years (30% young vines)
• Average yield: 40 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: 12 months in demi-muids and Burgundy barrels

• Area: 1.1 ha
• Soil: sand and gravel
• Grape varieties: Sauvignon
• Vine age: 50% 65 years old, 50% 3 to 20 years old
• Average yield: 20-25 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: 10 to 12 months in demi-muids and Burgundy barrels

• Area: Purchase of organic grapes on 1.8 ha
• Soils: flinty clay on chalk
• Grape varieties: Sauvignon
• Vine age: 35 years
• Average yield: 40 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: 6 months in demi-muids and Burgundian barrels (75%) and in sandstone amphorae (dolia) (25%)

White Wine:

• Area: Purchase of organic grapes on 7 hectares
• Flooring: various
• Grape varieties: Sauvignon
• Vine age: Average young: 4 to 20 years
• Average yield: 50 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: 4 to 6 months in stainless steel tanks

• Area: 0.9 ha
• Soils: flinty clay
• Grape varieties: Romorantin
• Vine age: from 3 to 115 years
• Average yield: 40 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: -

Pineau de la Loire:

• Area: Purchase of organic grapes on 0.8 ha
• Soils: sands and flinty clay
• Grape variety: Chenin
• Vine age: 70 years
• Average yield: 40 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: in fiber tanks, aged for 8 months.

Dolia:

• Area: Purchase of organic grapes on 0.35 ha
• Soils: clay-limestone
• Grape varieties: Sauvignon
• Vine age: 30 years
• Average yield: 40 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: in sandstone aerial amphorae (dolia)

Qvevri:

• Area: Purchase of organic grapes on 0.4 ha
• Soils: Sands
• Grape varieties: Sauvignon
• Vine age: 35 years
• Average yield: 25 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: 7 to 8 months of maceration on the skins in a buried clay amphora (qvevri), 2 additional months without the skins.

🍷 Red & rosé wines:

🏷️ Cheverny red:

• Area: 1.9 ha
• Soils: flinty clay on Blois chalk
• Grape varieties: 50% Pinot Noir, 50% Gamay
• Vine age: 25 years
• Average yield: 50 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: in conical oak vats, semi-carbonic maceration for 15 to 21 days depending on the vintage, aging for 7 months in demi-muids (600-liter barrels).

• Area: 1.7 ha
• Soils: flinty clay on Blois chalk
• Grape varieties: Predominantly Pinot Noir
• Vine age: From 7 to 45 years
• Yield: average 30 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: in conical oak vats, semi-carbonic maceration of 15 to 21 days depending on the vintage, aging for 8 months in demi-muids and Burgundy barrels

• Area: 1.35 ha
• Soils: flinty clay
• Grape varieties: Predominantly Pinot Noir
• Vine age: 40 years
• Average yield: 35 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: in conical oak vats, semi-carbonic maceration of 15 to 21 days depending on the vintage, aging of 10 to 12 months in demi-muids and Burgundy barrels.

🏷️ Red French wine:

• Area: 0.75 ha
• Soils: flinty clay
• Grape varieties: 90% Côt, 10% Gamay
• Vine age: 35 years
• Average yield: 40 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: in conical oak vats, carbonic maceration of 15 to 21 days depending on the vintage, aging of 10 to 12 months in demi-muids.

• Area: Purchase of organic grapes on 1.2 ha
• Soils: flinty clay
• Grape varieties: Gamay
• Vine age: 40 to 65 years
• Average yield: 40 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: in conical oak vats, semi-carbonic maceration of 15 to 21 days depending on the vintage, aging of 6 to 8 months in demi-muids (600-liter barrels).

• Area: Purchase of organic grapes on 3 hectares
• Flooring: various
• Grape varieties: Gamay
• Vine age: 30 years
• Average yield: 50 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: in fiber or stainless steel tanks, carbonic maceration of 15 to 21 days depending on the vintage, aging of 4 to 6 months in truncated conical oak tanks.

• Area: 1 ha (2/3 estate, 1/3 purchased organic grapes)
• Soils: Clay with flint, Sands
• Grape variety: Pineau d'Aunis
• Vine age: from 3 to 80 years
• Average yield: 40 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: in conical oak vats, semi-carbonic maceration of 15 to 21 days depending on the vintage, aging for 10 months in demi-muids and Burgundy barrels

🏷️ Rosé wine from France:

• Area: Purchase of organic grapes on 1 hectare
• Flooring: various
• Grape varieties: 90% Gamay, 10% Côt
• Vine age: less than 15 years
• Average yield: 50 to 60 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: 8 months in fiberglass tanks

• Area: purchase of organic grapes on 0.3 ha
• Soils: Clay with flint
• Grape varieties: experimental ampelographic plot: Aunis, Gamay (4 varieties), Arbois, Chenin, Meslier, Grolleau noir and gris….
• Vine age: 90 years
• Average yield: 25 hl/ha
• Aging and fermentation: 8 months in a Burgundy barrel

Wines from elsewhere

Clos du Tue Bœuf imports wines from select foreign winemakers chosen for the quality of their work and the uniqueness of their expression. These are exclusively natural wines grown organically.

The story began with the wines of Joan Ramon Escoda, a winemaker in Montblanc, Spain. Charmed by their quality, Thierry Puzelat decided to import them to France for distribution. Then, little by little, Thierry and Jean-Marie set out to discover natural wines throughout Europe and beyond (Georgia, Chile, Japan). These were as much wine-related encounters as they were friendly ones—a way to share a little-known expertise and open French palates to new flavors.

These wines are available from wine merchants and restaurateurs who distribute Tue Bœuf wines.

Related articles:

• Revolutionary winegrowers: the Puzelat brothers, the rebels of Cheverny (French)
• Loir-et-Cher: a forgotten grape variety returns to its lands (French)
• Meet these “new generation” winegrowers (French)
• “With a barbecued beef onglet, it’s magnificent”: Michelin-starred chef Christophe Hay’s favorite summer wine (French)
• Loire Valley Wines: In Search of the Lost Grape Variety (French)
• Thierry Puzelat - Wine doctor (English)
• Spotlight on: Clos du Tue-Boeuf, Puzelat family (English)
• Cheverny and more from the infamous Clos du Tue-Boeuf (English)