Tue-Boeuf, Clos du

  • Touraine, Loire, France
Clos du Tue-Boeuf

Thank you to importer Louis/Dressner for this profile of Clos du Tue-Boeuf: 

(Click here for Louis/Dressner's Tue-Boeuf entry on their website)

Since the Middle Ages, there have been records about the lieu-dit “le Tue-Boeuf” and its excellent wines which were enjoyed by the local nobility and the kings of France; the family name Puzelat is mentioned in 15th century documents. History, though, is not the story here. It’s about two brothers, Jean-Marie and Thierry Puzelat, who tend their 10-hectare family estate in Les Montils (part of the Cheverny AOC) and rent four hectares in a village nearby to produce AOC Touraine.

The region, near the hunting grounds of Sologne, has always used a wide variety of grapes. Since the 60’s, the Puzelats' father had been making his own selections of vines to replant, leaving his sons with vines of Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris (since ripped out), Menu Pineau (or Orbois), Pinot Noir, Gamay, Cabernet Franc and Côt (or Malbec). A visit to their cellar feels like a tour de France of varietals, each wine with its distinct personality, lovely label and wonderful name. Some cuvées are so small that there is never enough to go around.

Jean-Marie was joined on the estate by his younger brother Thierry in the early 90’s and they began converting their vines to organic viticulture. When the Cheverny AOC was created with the 1993 vintage, some varietals became outlawed from the blends, and the brothers started a yearly struggle to get their wines accepted under the new appellation (it bears to mention that they were also in their earliest stages of experimenting with sulfur free winemaking).

While firm believers in the AOC system, this began a trend of the brothers selling some of their wines as declassified Vin de Pays (now Vin de France).  For us, it was one of the first examples of customers knowing and trusting the estate's work methods over the appellation itself. And while we cannot claim the Puzelats were the first to do this, it clearly served as a monumental influence in the world of natural wine, setting an example for those having problems or feeling stifled by their appellations' criteria.

Speaking of natural wine, Clos du Tue-Boeuf, along with Marcel Richaud, Dard and Ribo, Yvon Metras and a handful of others were at the heart of the nascent movement in mid-90's Paris. They are undoubtedly the impetus for spreading this philosophy in the Loire, which remains a hotbed of the style to this day. As Hervé Villemade, himself part of the the second wave of natural winemakers in the late 90's, puts it: "What really made me start to believe I could make wines in this style were Thierry Puzelat's. Marcel Lapierre's were the spark, but he lived 450 kilometers away from me and was working with very different terroirs; having a neighbor pull it off right next door was the inspiration and motivation to follow in his footsteps."

Image Producer PRODUCT Description Country / Region

DB0531-23
Organic
Tue-Boeuf, Clos du VDF "Vin Blanc"
2023
Sauvignon Blanc
95% Sauvignon Blanc/5% Chardonnay. For this entry-level white, Tue Boeuf sources fruit from organic-farmer friends around home in the Cher...
France

DB8376-23
Organic
Tue-Boeuf, Clos du VDF "Vin Rosé"
2023
Gamay
Gamay/touch of Pineau d'Aunis. The blend of the Vin Rosé is always Gamay-based and varies in the rest of its make-up from year to year. It...
France

DB1023-23
Organic
Tue-Boeuf, Clos du VDF "Vin Rouge"
2023
Gamay
60% Gamay/40% Côt. The Vin Rouge is typically mainly from locally sourced, organically farmed Gamay; in 2022, there is Tue Boeuf estate Côt...
France

DB1021-22
Organic
Tue-Boeuf, Clos du VDF "Le Petit Buisson" (Sauvignon)
2022
Sauvignon Blanc
100% Sauvignon Blanc. Tue Boeuf has been sourcing from this site known as Petit Buisson on the north bank of the Cher since 2003. It is an...
France

DB1153-22
Organic
Tue-Boeuf, Clos du VDF "Buisson Pouilleux" (Sauvignon)
2022
Sauvignon Blanc
100% Sauvignon Blanc. Buisson Pouilleux is a 1.1-hectare vineyard of two parcels of Sauvignon, one planted in 1950 and the other in 1964;...
France

DB1022-22
Organic
Tue-Boeuf, Clos du VDF Pineau de la Loire
2022
Chenin Blanc
100% Chenin Blanc. Pineau de la Loire is the local historical name for Chenin Blanc, which is in this case is sourced from AOC Touraine...
France

DB8333-22
Organic
Tue-Boeuf, Clos du Cheverny Blanc "Frileuse"
2022
White Blend
1/3 each Sauvignon/Chardonnay/Fié Gris. Roughly translated as "little cold one", Frileuse is an apt name for this frost-prone, 3.8-hectare...
France

DB4430-22
Organic
Tue-Boeuf, Clos du VDF Blanc "Les Madères" (Chenin)
2022
Menu Pineau
    
France

DB4709-22
Organic
Tue-Boeuf, Clos du VDF "Le Brin de Chèvre" (Menu Pineau)
2022
Menu Pineau
100% Menu Pineau. Brin de Chèvre ("goat's hay") comes from two neighboring parcels, one planted in 1937 and the other in 1950; currently,...
France

DB3331-22
Organic
Tue-Boeuf, Clos du Cheverny Blanc "La Gravotte"
2022
70% Fié Gris/30% Chardonnay.  France

DB0527-22
Biodynamic
Tue-Boeuf, Clos du VDF "La Butte" (Gamay)
2022
Gamay
100% Gamay. La Butte or "the hill" is an organically farmed, hand-harvested 1.7-hectare parcel of 85-year-old Gamay on flinty clay-...
France

DB8346-22
Organic
Tue-Boeuf, Clos du VDF "La Guerrerie" (Côt/Gamay)
2022
Côt
90% Côt/10% Gamay. La Guerrerie is an estate parcel named in reference to its history as a battlefield in the Hundred Years' War. It is a...
France

DB0530-22
Organic
Tue-Boeuf, Clos du Cheverny Rouge "Rouillon" (Pinot Noir/Gamay)
2022
Pinot Noir/Gamay
50% Pinot Noir/50% Gamay. Named Rouillon or "rusty" for the reddish tint of its clay-limestone soils, this 1.9-hectare estate vineyard is...
France

DB8332-22
Organic
Tue-Boeuf, Clos du Cheverny Rouge "La Gravotte" (Pinot Noir)
2022
95% Pinot Noir/5% Gamay. Named for the site, which roughly translates to "little gravelly one", Gravotte comes from a single 1.2-hectare... France

DB8777-22
Organic
Tue-Boeuf, Clos du VDF Pineau d'Aunis
2022
Pineau d'Aunis
100% Pineau d'Aunis. Pineau d'Aunis is an historical black grape of the Touraine--in the same family with Menu Pineau and its more...
France

DB9975-22
Organic
Tue-Boeuf, Clos du Cheverny Rouge "La Caillère" (Pinot Noir)
2022
Pinot Noir
100% Pinot Noir. La Caillère is a 1.35-hectare estate plot of 35-to-40-year-old Pinot Noir vines planted on very deep clay over limestone....
France