Did You Know

The Underground Cathedral

One of the remarkable characteristics of the Saumur region is its tuffeau caves, carved into the chalk hillsides to quarry this local limestone. Tuffeau was used to build the the renowned castles, abbeys, monuments, and cities of the Loire Valley. Wines have been aged in these caves since the end of the 19th century when the extraction of tuffeau drew to an end.

Bouvet Ladubay’s own cellars lie in such a cave, excavated 1,000 years ago by the Saint Florent monks, who quarried the chalk stone to build their abbey, La Belle d’Anjou, consecrated in 1040 and at its greatest influence in the 13th century. It was said that the monks of the abbey buried an immense treasure in the caves during the French Revolution. In 2002, Patrice Monmousseau commissioned a sculptor, Philippe Cormand, to create the piece of art the “Underground Cathedral”. He rendered 35 architectural fragments from castles, churches and cathedrals sculpted by stonemasons over the centuries, adding to the natural beauty of the 5-mile-long cellars. Light and sound now complement this tribute to 10 centuries of builders in the Loire Valley.