Domaine de la Renière
A human project, brought to life by Thibault and Perrine, winemakers in Le Puy-Notre-Dame
In 2018, driven by my passion for Chenin I took over Domaine de la Renière. I was charmed by Le Puy-Notre-Dame and the vineyard’s potential. The tuffeau chalk soil offers ideal conditions for vine growing and gives wines an identity we love. Perrine then joined me and brought all her energy to the project, embedding it in our family balance.
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Heritage
This historical estate traces back to 1631. It belonged to the Gay famille, who entrusted us to keep the adventure going and bring it a new lease of life. Change first came through a conversion to organic farming, fuelled by the desire to make precise wines while respecting the environment.
Nowadays it is a place of experimentation, respect for life, and transmission.
A 3 pillars outlook
I aspire to keep it simple and healthy by working hand in hand with the vines instead of exploiting them.
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The vines
We are restructuring the vineyard to ensure a longer lifespan and better balance, by limiting intervention and fostering biodiversity. Gentle pruning, superficial working of soil, planting hedges, winter sheep grazing: everything is carefully thought through to recreate a living and resilient ecosystem to produce quality grapes.
Vineyard characteristics:
Surface - 15 hectares
Certification - Organic agriculture
Age of vines - 3 to over 70 years old
Varietals - Chenin, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Grolleau Gris
Bedrock - Turonian style tuffeau stone
The winery
Our approach is based on a meticulous monitoring of the wine-making process in order to intervene as little as possible and produce living, precise and honest wines.
Vinifications start in our winery which is an old converted barn. We particularly love wine aging, so all our bottles are then stored in troglodyte caves which provide the best conditions.
Hand-picked grapes - native yeasts - aged in troglodyte caves
Humans
The estate is first and foremost a human adventure.
We believe in the power of sharing and connecting with the land.
The togetherness and committed spirit of the region’s winemakers is strengthening our beliefs. We truly believe that working as a group can take us further which is why we have gathered a team of invested, creative, and environmentally and socially conscious individuals.
Making wine also means building
relationships.
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Our wines
Each of our wines is the result of patient work in the vineyard and respectful vinification.
We have grown our range around three different worlds:
The Estate cuvées - expressing the varietals’ freshness and fruitiness, whether on their own or blended.
The single-plot vintages - selected for their quality and consistency, shining through long aging.
The free spirits - two singular vintages from the same base wine.
Estate cuvées
Les Petites Caves - White, Vin de France
Les Petites Caves - Red, Saumur Rouge AOP - Cabernet Franc
La Cerisaie - White, Saumur Blanc AOP - Chenin
La Renière - Red, Saumur Rouge AOP - Cabernet Franc
Single-plot vintages
Coulée d’Arthenay - White, Saumur Blanc AOP - Chenin
Clos de la Cerisaie - White, Saumur Blanc AOP - Chenin
Moulin Repenti - Red, Saumur Puy-Notre-Dame AOP - Cabernet Franc
Free spirits
Uru-Anna - Brut nature
Louisa - Vin de France
Each vintage is thought like a personal interpretation, guided by intuition, respect for life and a taste for sharing.
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About Thibault & Perrine
We stepped into the world of wine from a young age: in Alsace for Perrine, in Saumur for Thibault. We met at university in Burgundy and again in Bordeaux for our diploma in oenology.
Since then we have shared our paths. Through work placements and first jobs, we’ve been lucky to travel and vinify abroad and in France - including impressive places such as Domaine Guiberteau, Château Cheval Blanc and Château La Tour Blanche.
After we came back to the Loire Valley, we were given the opportunity to take over Domaine de la Renière in le Puy-Notre-Dame. It was the perfect place to start a family around our shared values and passion.